demon days

M bought me the new gorrillaz album which has made me very happy.

It has helped to counteract the very sore throat I'm sporting at the moment and the scared feeling I have over life and dissertations.

However the new white stripes album would also help..hint hint to my little brother...

I think my friend who set up this blog has died. Which saddens me. I say this because he has not been active in the blog world nor did he reply to my massive email many moons ago.

I have a garden growing on my balcony and it is the bestest little garden. Everyday i go home and check on my babies that were planted with the help of M. I'm being a bold girl but I think I could start pillaging the lettuce within a week -- I'll let you know.

Richard Whitely died over the weekend. For the NA readers (which is like, everyone), he was the host of the tv show Countdown...which is kind of like an institution in much the same way as Jeopardy! is...you may have heard of it when you watched 'About a Boy', as Hugh watched the show everyday...anyways they are thinking they might not continue it...which is a terrible idea..the show is too good not to have.

That is all...

dreary saturday spent inside

Over a week of working
with flickering florrie lights
windowless walls and concrete floors

outside its sunny days and humid air
beaches, martinis and lawnchairs

excitement over my day off
dissipates as the rain falls
as the boy works far away
as the thesis piles itself up
and as the library replaces the warehouse

woe is me i declare
even though much to prepare:
two interviews on monday
a consulting gig confirmed
presentations to deliver
and cutting to my hair

its a good job i gave up my literary dreams
and subcumbed to city building
for my penning of thoughts is lacking
and i wholeheartedly admit I'm slacking...


LP

PS: Can someone please send me the following musical selections as I can't afford them in this country:
The new albums from:
Hot Hot Heat
The Kills
The White Stripes
The Gorrillaz
The chemical Brothers
The Audio Bullies
Sons and Daughters
Quarshi
Aqualung (now that it finally has its NA release three years AFTER the UK!)
and any other cds that I may not have listed but should have
Oh and any nancy sinatra and old school country -- I'm so jonsing for it right now

I'm being serious...everyone has to contribute to my musical needs -- mixed cds are accepted

Please email for my address...

Feeling a bit knackered

So when it rains it pours...or so they say.

Last friday I was feeling pathetic and so very poor and I posted a somewhat depressing post. About fifteen minutes later I got the phonecall saying I did indeed have the LFC job and I was to start on Monday...little did I know that I have accepted the monster of all jobs.

This week I am working 8 to 5:30 Monday to Friday and 8 - 3 on Saturday AND Sunday..and then I go back on M to F for the 8 to 5:30 hours....I'll earn about 270 quid this week, give or take...wow...

last friday I also got an email telling me that an application that Kristie and I had put in to create a tourism plan for the Lake District had been shortlisted and passed on to the appropriate people...so that could translate into a contract of about 900 quid.

Then yesterday I had two emails, one from a uni colleague here in Liverpool and one from my old firm in DC, both asking if I'd be interested in doing some GIS contract work for them...score!

THEN TODAY, I got a phone call from a firm in Manchester who asked that I call back about a senior transportation planner position I had applied for (I'm assuming I need to set up an interview but it was too late to call back today so that will be confirmed on Monday)...and then I came home to find out I have a job interview for a position as a business strategist for the City of Liverpool in just over a weeks time....

CRAZY!!! OH and adding to my good news: I checked the plants that my wonderful M and I planted on Sunday and I now have lettuce...

AND today at work, crazy story...so coworker K was inputting an order and she looked at the name and was like, oh my god, this is for 10 downing street! So we look at the name and its an order for a Mr. E Blair...so we all get somewhat excited over the celebrity order...and the excitement grew when the credit card was DECLINED!!!

So we got to talking about how sending out a letter with this news was sucky, especially if we could just call and perhaps get a new card...so we looked up the order and found a mobile number...everyone else in the office was like, 'i'm not going to call, but lyla, you can'...so I said, 'of course I'll call -- why wouldn't I?'....

So I get on the phone and I'm like:

L: Hi can I speak to a Mr. E Blair
EB: Yes, this is him, um, who is this?
L: This is Lyla from the LFC. I'm calling about an order you placed with us, but the card has been declined.
EB: What? Huh..oh, uh, I'm sorry...I"m in Vegas at the moment...Thats funny, that shouldn't have happened.
L: I was wondering if you wanted to provide us with another card to place the order...
EB: sure -- (fumbles, reads off number and NO I'm not providing it for you!)....what did I order?
L: Lets see, a champions of europe DVD
EB: oh, yeah, right....Oh, here's the security code for the card...
L: Thanks! We'll input this in and if there are any further problems we'll call back...I hope you have fun in Vegas..
EB: Thanks!

--Note while the conversation may not seem thrilling it was to me -- and he genuinely seemed confused about how we had his number yet he gave me the card straight away -- i think the accent may have confused him...

So yes..what else -- crappy news this week was M's finding out he didn't get the job...which really really sucks...he's managed to pick up some shift work as a steward at concerts -- so he's seen U2/thebravery/snowpatrol/athlete/idylwyld thus far and now he's working the madness gig tonight and the jools holland show tomorrow -- and no he doesn't get to watch but he still gets to go and get paid -- which can't be all that bad...but its still not the same as the job...so I hope he feels better soon --he has an interview in a week so hopefully that will result in something else...

Oh, and M and I saw star wars last friday: AWESOME!!!! SO great because a) got to go with the boy and it was really nice to do so...b) got to see the movie and it was awesome -- especially r2d2 kicking ass, the descent into the dark side, and the final scene where vadar finds out the fate of padamay -- if you don't leave reenacting it you're a fool...

So yes -- thats a crazy update yet again but it's been pretty positive -- minus the obvious M situation -- but something will work out - even if it means I have to be a sugar mama for while and in return I get foot massages, sympathy during athens 2004 and mexican food...

Lyla

Feeling a bit pathetic

Hey...amazing what not having structure can really do to oneself. I feel very pathetic as of late. With class over and concentration now on the thesis (blagh) and finding a job, life's a bit unstructured and up in the air. Which i hate. I like structure, security and knowing whats happening next. And I don't have that. So I feel kind of blah and am sinking into a bit of a depressive slump. I know it'll pass but not soon enough.

Still haven't heard from Liverpool as to if I got the damn warehouse job. Makes me feel even more of a fucking loser if I can't get a job filling orders. I know that things have reason and I really wouldn't enjoy the job but I wanted it for other reasons, cash and security. Of which I have none at the moment. Grr.

So thats my lame post.

Five AM Wake Up calls

It's been an exhausting week and a half. My stint at the post office working a 13 hour shift was tiring, mainly because of the hours...the work itself is piss easy but forcing your body to sort mail at 3:30 AM isn't exactly glamourous.

The Wednesday Shift (5 - 10 PM) was super easy and great fun. We got off work an hour early and there were about 10 flat screen tvs set up on the shop floor so we could watch THE footie game. For those who know nothing of the sport Liverpool kicked some serious italian ass last Wednesday, winning their fifth champions cup and one of the biggest sporting honours in the world. Needless to say Wednesday was a party.

A big street party. In which people danced on phone boothes. Where people hung from traffic lights. Where thousands of people dressed in red and white stopped traffic in the streets, sang songs and chants and drank themselves silly. I have a picture on my phone of about thirty people standing on the roof of a MOVING bus (albeit slowly) through downtown. It was crazy. It was mad. It was chaotic and I'm so happy I got to be part of it.

The next morning (after getting home at 2 AM), I awoke to catch the 6:50 AM train to the airport to pick up AMC from ND/SK. Her plane was late and it took over an hour from luggage pickup till she walked through the gates. We got back to the pool around 11:30, tip toeing around the vomit from the night before. After some sleep we got up and ate and then went to the champions parade. Once again people hung from street lights, they climbed onto balconies and some even climbed atop lime street station. Once my pics are developed I can post them -- it was soooo crazy! But I saw the cup and the team and it was good fun. Then we went out to our dance night and had fun.

On the Friday I showed AMC parts of Liverpool and my campus. Saturday was a 5 AM wake up to hop onto the 6 AM train to London. We saw some sights over the two days (Abbey Road, Sherlock holmes museum, parliament, westminster abbey, tower of london, Tower bridge, London Eye and Buckingham Palace) and we went to see Death of A Salesman with Brian Dennehey. It was good times all around.

Monday was sleep in and a trip to the Beatles experience museum. Tuesday we went on the magical Mystery Tour and for you Beatles fans: Strawberry Fields closed its doors for good that very day:( I learned quite a bit about the band and am saddened about the Stu Sutcliff story, which I had never known -- mainly because he was a hottie.

Tuesday night we had guest list to the Bravery in Manchester but we didn't get backstage or to even say hi to Mike H...which was sad but oh well. Wednesday we toodled around Salford Quays in Manchester before going to an art exhibit in Liverpool and watching the last episode of Desperate Housewives...shocking! And this morning was another 5:30 AM wake up to get AMC on the train to the airport for her 9 AM flight....so I'm tired.

Also had a job interview today for the Liverpool Football Club warehouse...about a month of work in July which should help cover my expenses but fuck me up with my thesis...oh well. Nothing else to say. Just thesis concentration during all my free time in order to compensate for the summer when I'll be working. Oh and I was invited to Barcelona next week and I can't go and I would have had a free place to stay and I'm pissy about it.

that is all. I hope 5 AM is not in my books for a few days.