Compunctious

A dear friend has written a wonderful post entitled 'disambiguation'.

The post inspired me to peel walls, but the title won out by instilling a far stronger urge to go in search of words.

Do not ask how I got from A to B (or from D to S) but I offer you the following:

Skatole

Noun

A white crystalline organic compound, C₉H₉N, having a strong fecal odor, found naturally in feces, beets, and coal tar and used as a fixative in the manufacture of perfume.

Oh lovely.

OK I'm addicted

And that's bad.

My Favourite Not-Recipe

Most people who stop to read this will know I've been forced to make a lot of lifestyle changes recently. I confess I occasionally liked a bit of salad, particularly on a hot sunny day and especially when swamped in Salad Cream.

Its not so easy, however, to make raw green salad seem that attractive when you decide to munch through a ton on a regular basis.

Or it wasn't.

This isn't a recipe in my mind because there is no cooking and none of the ingredients combine to make something new. Its just a combination.

Take - one large bowlful of green leaf salad of your choice (I like a combination of textures and flavours with a few peppery leaves in the mix. If you are saddled with a miserable little iceberg lettuce, then mix in some washed dandelion and nasturtium leaves.

Add - a good twist each of freshly milled: flaky sea salt, chilli seeds, dry garlic granules.

Drizzle - drizzle over with Good Oil. All hemp seed oils are incredibly healthy with a perfect balance of Omega 3, 6 and 9 (provided they haven't been heated up too much), but this brand is so deliciously nutty with such a moreish scent that it ought to be labelled addictive in its own right.

Toss - gently, to combine the crisp with the smooth, the hot with the delicate, the creamy nuttiness with the peppery leaf.

Scarf the lot.

Heaven!

Prom Dresses in Eastbourne

*Ahem* Someone has landed here twice today looking for Prom dresses in Eastbourne. Believe it or not there is a fantastic shop that does prom dresses, pink ball gowns, whatever you want, sleek, sparkly, or the whole meringue look, plus the beady sproingy tiaras and sundry accessories, hidden away in that grotty little 'shopping mall in a big shed' down by Eastbourne train station, just behind the taxi rank.

I forget what its called.

Glad to be of service.

If you kind of know me

... and you haven't done this already,

.... add to my Johari window?

Update - if you read my blog by feedburner, sorry this post keeps updating. I'm just renewing the data every time I see someone new has played along, because it means loads!

Arena (known to self and others) adaptable, complex, independent, self-conscious	Blind Spot (known only to others) able, accepting, bold, brave, caring, clever, confident, energetic, friendly, helpful, idealistic, ingenious, intelligent, kind, knowledgeable, loving, mature, modest, nervous, observant, patient, powerful, reflective, searching, self-assertive, sensible, silly, spontaneous, sympathetic, tense, trustworthy, warm, wise, witty
Façade (known only to self) logical, sentimental	Unknown (known to nobody) calm, cheerful, dependable, dignified, extroverted, giving, happy, introverted, organised, proud, quiet, relaxed, religious, responsive, shy

Dominant Traits

71% of people think that mad baggage is intelligent

All Percentages

able (23%) accepting (4%) adaptable (9%) bold (14%) brave (19%) calm (0%) caring (28%) cheerful (0%) clever (28%) complex (38%) confident (4%) dependable (0%) dignified (0%) energetic (4%) extroverted (0%) friendly (19%) giving (0%) happy (0%) helpful (9%) idealistic (9%) independent (28%) ingenious (4%) intelligent (71%) introverted (0%) kind (23%) knowledgeable (14%) logical (0%) loving (14%) mature (4%) modest (4%) nervous (4%) observant (19%) organised (0%) patient (4%) powerful (9%) proud (0%) quiet (0%) reflective (4%) relaxed (0%) religious (0%) responsive (0%) searching (19%) self-assertive (4%) self-conscious (4%) sensible (4%) sentimental (0%) shy (0%) silly (9%) spontaneous (14%) sympathetic (19%) tense (4%) trustworthy (14%) warm (14%) wise (19%) witty (42%)

Created by the Interactive Johari Window on 29.3.2007, using data from 21 respondents.
You can make your own Johari Window, or view mad baggage's full data.

Naughty Doris went twice! Umm,... is complex a good thing? How bizarre. No, I am not opening a Nohari - not in public, anyway. ;-)

Sunday Meme

Stolen from Wulfie

1. Can you cook?
Yes and a lot better than my husband. For a start I read the instructions before we get to burnt offering stage and I do not subscribe to the theory that if herbs bring out the flavour, then a pinch can always be replaced with a packet. He gets to do the cooking because its all the housework he'll do, so I've learned to tolerate it on principle.

2. What was your dream growing up?
Which one? In infant school I wanted to be a Fairy. At some point I wanted to just be famous for singing or dancing or the like. When the hormones kicked in I think Sunday afternoon black and white movies and musicals had far too much to answer for.

3. What talent do you wish you had?
Enthusiasm. That's a talent, trust me.

4. Favorite place?
No idea.

5. Favorite vegetable?
Baby spinach

6. What was the last book you read
Am in the middle of Freaks, Geeks and Asperger Syndrome.

7. What zodiac sign are you?
Aquarius

8. Any Tattoos and/or Piercings?
Nope. Never found a design I knew I'd like for the rest of my life. I accept my fickle nature and hate to be tied down to one style.

9. Worst Habit?
Honesty without the cotton wool

10. Do you personally know anybody on Blog?
Met one for a single coffee once, married one (but that doesnt count because he caught the blogging bug from me after the fact), plus one old friend who came to our wedding now blogs, too.

11. What is your favorite sport?
Sarcasm

12. Negative or Optimistic attitude?
Negatively Optimistic. I have to convince myself its all going to go tits up and face the worst case scenario. Then I skip along like Annie from the movie, being nauseatingly cheerful about everything because I know I can cope. Strangely this REALLY pisses some people off. They like to hope for the best in a simpering sort of a way and then huddle in a corner in mutually consolation when it all goes to hell, because nobody has a contingency plan and shit, isnt life just there so you can bat your eyelids inneffectually and hug people.

13. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator lift with someone of the opposite sex?
Depends who.

14. Worst thing to ever happen to you?
Oooer.

15. Tell me one weird fact about you:
Shit, its all weird, or so I'm told.

16. Do you have any pets?
2 Cats, 3 Kittens, 4 Guinea Pigs and 2 Rats

17. Do you know how to do the macarena?
No, thank God. Nor do I have any white stilletos or a taste for Pina Colada or Bacardi.

18. Is the sun shining where you are now?
Yep a lovely spring day

19. Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
Never seen one except on the telly on Christmas afternoon, when I traditionally thought they were pathetic and boring.

20. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
waistline

21. Would you be my good angel or bad angel?
Who are you and how annoying can you be?

22. What color eyes do you have?
Brown

23. Ever been arrested?
No.

24. Bottle or Draft?
Draft, but only in a good pub where the draft isnt all freezing bloody cold and the better stuff like Old Speckled Hen or Bishop's Finger hasn't been rattled down the stairs and turned to sulphur.

25. If you won £10,000 today, what would you do with it?
Last time I got ten grand I paid off my husbands debts which, of course, left such a hole in his life that he replaced them. This time I think I'd just fuck off up the road to Brighton and party until I was bored.

26. What kind of bubble gum do you prefer to chew?
I dislike bubble gum and those that chew it. Its the whole Willy Wonka issue.

27. What's your favorite bar to hang at?
Monkey?

28. Do you believe in ghosts?
Not too much choice there

29. Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
procrastinate

30. Do you swear a lot?
Bollocks do I

31. Biggest pet peeve?
Finding things the husband has screwed up small and stuffed into pint glasses or corners in the bookcase.

32. In one word, how would you describe yourself?
Dangerous

Your turn! Comment here so I can come see. :-)

Brain farts are a sign of life

Yesterday's post (was the last one done yesterday?) *cough* may be written off as a brain fart.

Nonetheless this is acknowledged to be outrageously good news. The depths of my brain are, apparently, moving, and producing, err, things. Said organ was generally considered to be either terminally constipated or dead, and we have broken an impasse. As I write, several dozen previously warring neurologists, pathologists and professional experts are enjoying a jovial cup of tea and comparing fees. The judge is in the cupboard taking Valium and Smarties washed down with un-peated Magilligan Single Malt.

My proctologist is mad at everybody. Yes folks, in the recent silence I have been off to see the man with the bendy camera and the bicycle pump; he of the latex gloves and scary index finger, with the lifetime supply of industrial grade KY.

He is mad because apparently my GP should have known about statins and their (allegedly well known) side effects.

I am happy because at the pre-op weigh in, one of the nurses casually remarked that a lot of people on the same meds as me also take a water tablet.

That was it. Go back to my GP and ask? You must be joking. I went to Boots and bought herbal ones.

In one day I could see blood vessels on my feet.
In two, I could see my knuckles.
In three my husband said my face looked thinner.
In four I'd lost half a stone and counting.
In five, my brain started to function once more.

So, please, turn around, touch the ground, touch wood, cross yourselves and wish hard on my account, because if I can regain cognitive speed on any reliable basis I may decide to change the world.

Starting with a change of doctors, I think.

Echolalia

You know when you go on a train journey and half way through the track is up, so you all get off at the stop before and the train company lays on a bus, an alternative form of transport, to get you as far as the second functioning length of track and therefore on to your destination?

Repeat after me.

"Echolalia.
"The message got this far.
"Not far enough.
"the brain company is just going to run it along by my-voice bus."

And we got there. (Always provided no more track is up further along the line, as that might demand a little bit of rocking or head banging, so just be patient).

For Mothers - public service announcement

Look, in case you were worried about it, just buy the kid an X-box, OK?

They're all going to hid in their bedrooms and do 'things' and yanking on a joystick is probably the most innocuous option.

For example:

*Cough*, So, presumably I need a toyboy?

You are Oscar Wilde Charming and Witty. You are incredibly popular because of your wry and satirical sense of humor. You are also incredibly talented at writing, and pushing the conventional boundaries of your society. Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

(Found this quiz at Writermom's)