Doggy News

Hi guys. I am still kicking about in the non-virtual part of the world, spending less and less time in this virtual parallel sphere. Yeah. Time for an update - and a belated happy New Year to you all.

Work's been very busy -- too busy -- for most of 2008. It nearly became too much; like really too much for me to handle despite my efforts and all the work I did at home in the evenings and during the weekends. But it shouldn't be like that, should it? You're meant to be OFF when your work day finishes and you leave the office...I never was. So I cried for help and eventually my cry for help was heard -- and acted upon by my boss. In October, the department I work in employed a part-time translator to relieve me of some of all my tasks. It's been great. It means I can now work at a more normal and bearable pace. It means I hardly ever have the computer on at home during the weekends anymore. I am still busy at work and that's great -- so long as there's something to do, I have a job. That's how I see it anyway. But too much work breaks you down in the long run, man...and that was where I was heading big time.

Bought a puppy in October. He is a wee gorgeous border collie -- black and white and ever so adorable [and cheeky]. It has been and still is hard work raising a wee baby dog....but it pays off; it's worth all the time and energy Alan and I are spending on the wee fellow. He's called Glen and here are some pictures:

Wee Glen - 8 weeks old in October 2008: "Sometimes I just cannae be arsed sleeping in my brand new basket" ;-)


Glen is 9 weeks old in this picture from October 2008. Checking out the outdoor facilities.


Glen is 15 weeks old in this photo from December 2008. Handsome and cheeky!

Him and I will be starting puppy training next week! Cannot wait :-)

What else? Oh yeah, Margaret Larkin of Metrolingua has put together an anthology in which some of my words also appear: Down the Block - available here.



-- it's a pretty cool wee collection of texts about life in the city!

Finally: thanks to the one and only Mike Daily for the wonderful comments on this blog -- as himself and as my imposter :-) Mike, you make Blogging worthwhile! And I am not making this up!

At the moment...

...this blog is shouting out to me:

SHOULD I STAY
OR
SHOULD I GO?

Time. It all takes time. Time to update one's own blog, and time to read and keep up-to-date with what everyone else is/has been up to in and outwith the Blogosphere. How often ought one to update one's blog? -- in order not to lose one's Blogger audience? Are there some unwritten rules about Blogging and good conduct when running a Blog? Do you run or administer a Blog? [Probably 'administer' since the word 'Admin.' seems to pop up constantly in a Blogger context].
Do I still have the time to maintain [oh oh; a third word to describe activities in connection with Blogging] this blog? And why should I? First MySpace threatened to make the Blog extinct; then Facebook which is where it all seems to be happening at the moment. Or maybe it's because I don't feel that I have the time [and energy] to be everywhere [in all three places -- preferably at once! How many goddamn windows are you able to focus on at the same time on your monitor?!]. Maybe I no longer feel the need to project one two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven etcetera identities onto this big virtual canvas called

THE

I
N
T
E
R
N
E
T

I prefer my garden nowadays. Yeah, quite a few new priorities have entered into my life since hubby and I purchased a detached house; with a garden -- an untamed and rather large garden [or maybe it feels large because it's untamed?]. I no longer feel an urge to sit in front of the PC and spend time on the I-n-t-e-r-n-e-t. I used to when we lived in the crummy flat with the noisy neighbours. Maybe I should delete my profiles on MySpace and Facebook and stick at Blogging only? Maybe I ought to get back to work? Yeah, that's it -- back to work.

PS. Is it possible to become [a tad] stressed due to the maintenance of too many online identities? I think so.

Transmitting a message from Kurt...

The one and only Kurt Eisenlohr [painter, photographer, writer, bartender, funny and cool as fuck guy] from Portland, Oregon in the United States of A., posted the following m_e_s_s_a_g_e on my MySpace page:



Hey Lilly,

How's it hanging, girl?

My novel, MEAT WON'T PAY MY LIGHT BILL--an oldie but a goodie, I tell you--is being republished by Time and Skin Media. They will also be publishing my next one, tentatively titled EVERYONE I KNOW IS DEAD.

For details go to timeandskin. com

It's all about pre-ordering!

Dig the new cover I came up with. It's a photo I took about 25 years ago of my father and my brother, Mikey. He goes by the name Nice Mike now. My father, sadly, is no longer living. But he will now be haunting bookshelves both here and abroad.

Or so I hope.

Help spread the word!

Thank you Scooter Girl.

All best, Krt.


***********************************************

Federman Frenzy

New book -- out now.

Download it for free here.

Or
purchase your hard copy
[ISBN: 978-8-7992-4564-2 ]
here.

Sleeping with O'Grady

Click h_e_r_e if you want to visit O'Grady.

Moomins

	Hvem er du i Mummidalen?
	Mitt resultat: Mummitrollet Du er Mummitrollet! Du er veldig nysgjerrig. Du får ofte nye venner og drar gjerne ut på eventyr.
	Ta denne quizen på Start.no

We got married

Mega busy again again again...too busy to blog.
Sorry.
I don't know if I've lost my entire audience by now?
[Hello? *echo* *echo* *echo*].

At least I did have the time to get married last month.
Alan [my new hubby] has made a blog post about it, which you can view here. We had an absolutely wonderful day.

Men who make me laugh

I thought of something else. I thought "who makes me laugh on telly?" I came to conclude -- as the list below will confirm -- that the majority of people on telly who make me laugh are British men. Interesting.

List [in random order] of men [on telly] who make me laugh:

- Rik Mayall
- Adrian Edmondson
- Eddie Izzard
- Paul Merton
- Simon Pegg
- Hugh Laurie
- Craig Charles [Red Dwarf]
- Chris Barrie [Red Dwarf]
- Bill Bailey [Black Books]
- Ricky Gervais
- Stephen Fry
- Ford Kiernan [Chewin' The Fat + Still Game]
- Greg Hemphill [Chewin' The Fat + Still Game]
- Rowan Atkinson
- John Cleese
- Dylan Moran [Black Books]
- Jon Stewart

Only the two last names on the list are non-British.

Keeping my promise?

Oh crap -- I didn't keep my promise, did I? I don't think now is "soon-ish". But I've been busy.

Got offered a free ticket for a trip to Paris, which I accepted. My mum and granny were meant to go on a wee Easter holiday together but my granny pulled a muscle in her back and was therefore unable to embark upon the lo-o-o-o-o-ong coach trip from Aalborg to Paris [and back again]. I went in her place and had a great time with my mum; as always Paris was amazingly beautiful and utterly spectacular. Plus I found a vegetarian restaurant near Notre Dame! YAY! I still do not have any visuals from the trip as they're still in my mum's digital camera.

MEGA busy translating in my so-called "spare time". F_r_e_e_l_a_n_c_e. I accepted a big job for a local school in February only because I knew I'd be able to get most of it done over Easter. Otherwise I would never have said 'yes'. Obviously, I didn't manage to get it done over Easter since I ended up going to Paris instead. So I am a tad stressed about this job -- and ought to be working on it right now instead of writing this update. Oh well.

Been spending a helluva lot of time looking for a house to buy over the past 14 months. Too much time! I won't go into details [I'd be here all day if I did], but Alan and I finally found our wee house on Sunday. We bought it 2 days ago! We're still trying to get used to the idea of being "house owners". We both detest the idea of owing shitloads of money -- I guess it means that we have to dance for The Man to a certain extent; but I'd rather do that to a certain extent and not have to dance for the arsehole downstairs who plays his crappy music way too loud. Why oh why is it that idiots who have to play their music loud always have a crap taste in music?

The position I currently hold at Aalborg University was originally based on a 2-year contract, expiring on March 31, 2009. However, I was offered a permanent position as of February 1, 2008, which I accepted immediately. That is cracking [albeit belated] news!

What else? I cannot think of anything else just now.