Time for the Eurovision final.

It’s this Saturday, and – obviously – I’ve invited people over to eat tapas and watch the show on BBC Prime (has to be on Prime, cannot, I repeat: cannot, miss Terry Wogan’s comments). Should be fun.

I need to go shopping, though. Have to locate a shop that sells chorizo sausages and serrano ham. I wonder if tapas might be a bit overly ambitious, especially considering the state of my kitchen (it’s started disintegrating further, now, this weekend most of the plastic cold-water-tap-handle came off in my hand), but I figure that the benefit is that with so many different dishes, they can’t all go wrong. We will see. Suggestions for fail-safe tapas dishes would be appreciated.

Dear me, according to this test I am liable for sentences of up to 12 years in prison. There are some strange laws about, especially in the UK. How’s this for an example:

Ever shot someone with a bow and arrow? This is actually legal in certain sitations in the UK – in Chester, you can only shoot a Welsh person with a bow and arrow inside the city gates and after midnight. In York, excluding Sundays, it is perfectly legal to shoot a Scotsman with a bow and arrow.

I wonder what the laws of Ireland say about chopping down vikings with a broadsword? Suddenly that summer holiday seems like a more risky venture.

Sunday is clear, I see. Good. It’s staying that way (if the world knocks, let it know I’ll be unavailable for comments until Monday morning).

I said. Ha ha.

Well. It appears I’m going sailing Sunday. Good. I think.

(20 minutes – more since the painkiller – and my head’s no better. This is fun. Not.)

Yesterday I took an anti-histamine, which meant that in the afternoon I was really drowsy and had to warn the karate teacher that I might be a little unfocused (I did alright, though, I think). Today I didn’t taken an anti-histamine, though I probably should have, but instead I seem to be reacting to the changing athmospheric pressure or something. I’ve had this almost-headachey feeling in my forehead all day, and my eyebrows keep twitching uncontrollably whenever I look at the screen, which makes it darn difficult to concentrate. I’ve succumbed and taken pain-killers, despite there being no actual pain, just a vague discomfort, in the hope that it will help in some way. So far today I have edited one (1) line of code and spent ten minutes explaining how a function works to one of the guys in support. Unless it clears up in the next half hour or so – which would allow me to put in a good, oh, 90 minutes’ work before I go – the day will have been a complete wash-out. Not good. One of the guys in the office is 60 today and there is cake. I don’t want any. That’s how icky I’m feeling.

I’ve got way too much on my plate at the moment. It’s this social life I seem to have suddenly aquired, it’s going to be the death of me, I swear. A quick glance at my calendar, and I seem to have Friday night free (potentially), except I’m making Tapas for Saturday night, so I guess a bit of preparation may be in order. Sunday is clear, I see. Good. It’s staying that way (if the world knocks, let it know I’ll be unavailable for comments until Monday morning). The following weeks all seem pretty much packed already. In fact, the first week with nothing planned is the one starting 14 July. And I am not the sort of person who plans stuff ahead of time, so this really is extreme.

In the meantime, half a minute of relaxation reading the daily Pondus:

(“I wish I could talk, then I could explain everything.” “I was insane at the moment of action.”)

Voice in my head: Macy Gray – Relating to a Psychopath

One year ago today we were told the office would be downsized.

So we’re going for a drink this afternoon to toast our old boss (thanks for kicking us out, we pretty much all wanted to leave anyway).

And afterwards there’s the NMWL meeting. I’ll be in a right state tomorrow morning unless I can exercise (correct word) some self-control.

We’ll see.

Voice in my head: Lillebjørn Nilsen – Fort gjort å glemme

This made very little sense to me (and the extrovert part is blatant nonsense), but what the heck.

Conscious self	Overall self

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And how did we get here? (Though Grumpy Bear is kinda cute.)

Gay Bear

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I can see this. I think. (*grin*)

You’re the Cheshire Cat. Your mysterious aura and your penchant for riddles keep your friends guessing. You dislike staying too long in any one place. Your advice is always sound, if somewhat enigmatic. The sum total of this is that people are always following you and you just WANT TO GET AWAY!

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But this? This I can definitely live with…

You are the Figher Femme

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More potpourri this or that

1. Large or small family?
Preference or actual? Going with actual: My family is small. Both my parents are only children and both my mother’s parents are dead, so when we all get together there’s a whopping six of us. To extend it beyond grandparents would be ridiculous in the other direction, my grandparents all have at least 5 siblings, and most of those have kids and grandkids and great grandkids. Preference? Well, I wouldn’t know, would I?

2. Potato chips or pretzels?
Popcorn

3. House or apartment?
I’d like a house with a garden, but I’d have to have the money, not just for the house but to pay a gardener (my motto as regards gardening: The easiest thing to grow in a garden is tired).

4. Zebras or giraffes?
Giraffes. One of the (many) things I collect is giraffes, but only specifically the kind that are made for very small children out of rubbery plastic.

5. Candles or potpourri?
Candles.

6. Flowers or trees?
Both. I love trees, though.

7. Right or left-handed?
Right-handed.

8. Model trains or dolls/stuffed animals?
For what? I guess the latter, I’ve never even had a model train.

9. Comedy or drama?
Depends on my mood. And on the piece. Bad comedy or good drama? Obviously the latter. Good comedy or bad drama? Take a wild guess…

10. Thought-provoking question of the week: The city of Boston has recently banned smoking in all restaurants and bars. Would you want to see such a law passed in your city/town/country, or not?
Well, they’re talking (the Storting, that is) about such a law for the whole of Norway, and it looks like it might come into force from the new year. I’m in favour for purely selfish reasons. I don’t even care much whether passive smoking is damaging to health or not (I mean, I’d care if it were proven that it were, but I’d still be in favour of a ban if it weren’t), I think breathing cigarette smoke is uncomfortable, it makes me cough, and it makes your clothes (and hair and skin) stink, and I can’t see why I should have to put up with it. Of course, I also think they should ban mobiles set to anything but “silent” in restaurants and on public transport, and I’m sure I can think of other reasonably harmless but annoying things that I think ought to be banned…

The BBC (you’ve gotta love it) have been doing something they call “The Beeb’s big read”, and people have been voting for their best-loved novel. The resulting list, as Tinka observes:

Unlike most lists, this has been compiled not by experts but by the viewing public. That alone ensures some hiliarity: Joyce’s Ulysses next to Jeffrey Archer’s Kain and Abel?

But then, if I extract the list of 47 that I have read (or even of somewhat less – 39 – that I have read and enjoyed) I still get Ulysses next to Kane and Abel. So who am I to complain?