Iesus Non Amat Me

Seven years ago I made my Ships of the Noughties list. Recently it was suggested to me by dustinw5220 that I make a similar list for the nineties. I decided to expand on that a bit to include a whole century rather than just a decade because why not? As usual I found it difficult to decide which ships to include, so before we reach the main event I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge some of my favourite couples who didn't quite make the cut:

( Honourable Mentions )

I've also decided not to double up, so Mulder/Scully, Xena/Gabrielle, Tom/B'Elanna, Harm/Mac, Willow/Tara, Piper/Leo, John/Aeryn, and Charlie/Zoey are not featured in this list because I already included them in my Ships of the Noughties.

And now, without further ado, I present to you...




( Twentieth Century Ships )

There you go. I hope you enjoyed my Twentieth Century Ships and please feel free to leave a comment letting me know what you think!

I went up to London at the weekend for mine and Paul's annual Christmas shopping trip. I think I might be getting a bit old for it though. Maybe next year I should do all my shopping online and we can just spend three days drinking mulled wine and eating gingerbread. Although if we do that then we do miss out on finding cool little shops and craft markets, which would be a shame.

On Saturday we went down to Brighton to have a look at what was there. The seafront was very bracing (read: windy) but I still loved it. And we found a lovely little craft market in a seafront tavern where I picked up a few things including some cute little Star Wars decorations which are now adorning my tree.

I didn't end up buying as much as I have in previous years, which is good. Still felt quite loaded down by the end of the weekend though!

In other news, my ear is bothering me again. I managed to go quite a long time without any issues, but it's now swollen and painful. I'm just taking ibuprofen and hoping it sorts itself out soon. Really hoping before Christmas and preferably before Friday evening when I have my work Christmas meal. I'm bad enough at socialising as it is without adding not being able to hear well into the mix!

Mum and I went blood doning today. I wasn't able to donate cos my haemoglobin levels were too low, so Mum made up for it by donating too much. We both got handy leaflets to take home with us. It was funny cos before we went we were joking that Tilly wanted me to stay home and Mum could just donate for both of us!

In my previous entry I promised a more in-depth post about the wedding, so here we go:

I'm still not sure why I was an anxious about going to this thing. I mean, yeah, I know I'm still not great with being sociable but I've made so much progress in the past 15 years. I wasn't expecting this to affect me so much, but I was shaking on the way down and on the verge of tears quite a few times. I texted Paul and made him meet up with me before we checked in so I didn't have to go in by myself. And then I felt guilty for being so clingy.

The hotel was nice, although I had an issue with my door not locking. Paul and I went to reception and they said they'd send someone up to check it. After the ceremony I decided to pop up and see if it was fixed, but it still opened without the keycard. So I went back down and they said they'd sent someone and he said it was fine. Clearly didn't do a very good job with that! The lady then moved me to another room, so I went and moved my stuff down while pictures were being taken. It wasn't a big deal, but I really didn't need another thing to worry about when I was already so anxious.

The ceremony was nice, although out of date. The officiant said that "The law of this country defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman" and I was sitting there thinking "Not any more!" The meal was good too. Because the wedding was superhero themed we all got characters on our placecards. I was Storm, although I was sat on the Spiderman table rather than the X-Men one. But that's ok. Beast and Gambit were also there with me.

The reception followed, which was where I struggled a lot. The music was so loud and overwhelming I again felt close to tears and just wanted to escape. But I stuck it out. What helped a lot was moving to a nearby room where we could still hear the music, but it was at a far more manageable level. I wish we'd thought to do that earlier, but people seemed to be having fun dancing. The groom's father made me get up and dance at one point, which I really wish I was able to enjoy but I just felt too uncomfortable and self conscious. I told myself that I'd dance again when they played my song request, but they never did.

The hotel was only a couple of miles from my house but I chose to stay over so I didn't have to worry about getting a taxi home, and I'm glad I did. It was one less thing to panic about, and it meant that I got to have breakfast with friends (including the bride and groom) the next day, which was nice.

So yeah, I'm trying to focus on the positives of the weekend (namely the fact that I went and stuck it out till the end and it was a lovely wedding) and not so much the negatives (how much I leaned on Paul for support the whole time and the fact that I was panicking about quite simple things in the first place.)

And despite the fact that it went mostly well, I still spent a lot of Sunday plagued with the idea that everyone I talked to or interacted with now thinks I'm a horrible person because of something I said or did or didn't say or didn't do. That was fun.

I went to the pub quiz last night and we came fourth. Fourth! This is the first time we haven't won since I joined the team! But, to be fair, we were two members short. And it was pretty close. We came fourth with 37 points, two teams tied for second with 38 points, and the winners had 39 points. So I don't think we did too shabbily.

Also, Paul won the heads or tails game during the break which meant we got two free drinks so the evening wasn't a total loss!

I haven't been here for a while because when I wrote my last entry I'd actually been planning to say more but was having trouble putting my thoughts into words and it was so frustrating that I decided to just post my 10,000 steps pic and avoid LJ for a week. Because that's the sensible and mature way to handle things.

I did consider trying to write about it now, but I think it best to just draw a line under it and move on. So, moving on...

Last night I went to Emma's for her second hen party; this time it was an old school style sleepover with a superhero theme. I dressed up as Supergirl and took along my comic book shoes, which people seemed rather impressed by. Emma suggested I wear them to her actual wedding (which will also have a superhero theme) but I'm not sure I can wear heels that high for that long!

It was a nice evening, not least because all seven of us have known each other for years now, having gone to the same secondary school, and I love that we're still friends even after all these years. But at the same time it's terrifying to realise exactly how many years it has been. (FIFTEEN! We left school FIFTEEN YEARS AGO!)

This morning, after everyone else had gone, Emma and I continued the old school sleepover tradition of finishing off the leftover chocolate for breakfast. I mentioned wanting to watch Agent Carter so we found an episode. Unfortunately it was the sixth episode so Emma had to keep telling me who people were, but it was good. And I really must get round to actually watching it from the beginning!

And, here, have some pictures of me as Supergirl with my comic book shoes of awesome because I actually look pretty good:

( Supergirl! )

I was pretty much dreading this weekend cos it was my friend's hen night, and an evening of drinking at Wetherspoons and partying at Popworld is really not my idea of a good time, but I was actually pleasantly surprised by how much fun I had.

A few of us started off by getting dinner at Friday's before joining everyone else for jugs of cocktails at Wetherspoons and then onto Popworld after that. Popworld was the bit that I was most worried about but it was good, albeit a little louder than I would have liked. We had our own little cordoned off VIP area, which was really cool, and it came with sweets and lots of booze. (Seriously, so much booze! We had a bottle of Prosecco, a bottle of vodka, cans of Red Bull, and some kind of mixed vodka orange drink.) I avoided the vodka, Red Bull, and mixed drink, but I did add popping candy to my glass of Prosecco and was very pleased with the results.

It being a hen night, of course, there were the usual obligatory penis straws and a Pin the Cock on the Naked Man game. But other than that it was fairly tame. (Do you like how I'm acting like some hen party veteran here, despite the fact that this was the first one I've ever actually been on? I've watched TV. I know how these things go!)

I had to leave around 11:30 to get the last train back, which was probably a good thing because I was reaching my limit by that point. I think if I'd stayed till 2:30 it would have definitely stopped being fun. I am glad I was there long enough to dance to Tragedy by Steps though. I almost never dance, but there are a few songs where I think it's the law that if you were a teenager in the 90s in Britain you have to jump up whenever they come on and Tragedy is definitely one of them.

Overall it was a really good evening. And I didn't feel as drunk as I thought I would. But that might be because the cocktails in Wetherspoons are about 95% sugar and only 5% actual alcohol.

Although that does bring me to the only downside of the evening, which was when one of my friends told me that another of our friends had been pouring other drinks into my wine at a birthday party we were at last year. Other friend denies this and I hope it's not true because that's a really shitty thing to do, but it does seem likely. I remember being sick that night and the next day I felt worse than I have ever felt before after a night of drinking. I couldn't understand why, because I really didn't think I'd had that much, but if someone had been spiking my drink without my knowledge that would certainly explain it.

Ah, summer. That wonderful time when I have the choice to either sleep with my window closed and feel like I'm boiling to death or sleep with it open and be woken up by the neighbours' cockerel at 4am. Decisions, decisions.

Either way, I'm very glad it's Friday. Work is also very uncomfortable in the summer cos it's so physical and I always end up feeling like a disgusting overheated mess by the end of my shift. Yesterday I found myself close to tears and I couldn't even put my finger on why exactly. I just felt so overwhelmed by everything and the thought that summer hasn't even technically started yet and I have so much more of this to come is really getting me down.

But at least I have my holiday at the end of July/beginning of August. That's something to look forward to, and not just because it means I won't be at work. I'm so excited to finally go to Ireland. You'd think with the amount of travelling I do and the fact that Ireland is right next to us I'd have already made a trip over, but nope. I get to experience it all for the first time. And try to do so without Loreena McKennitt lyrics running through my head on a constant loop!

Tomorrow I'm heading up to Oxford to see friends and hopefully have a BBQ if the weather cooperates. So that's something else to be happy about. Yay!

And this brings me to the final part of my London Adventure: Wednesday.

Once again, I found myself alone in London for most of the day. I started by going over to Kingston and watching Cinderella in the cinema. There was the usual part of me that was a bit worried that it was weird to go to the cinema by myself, especially because I was seeing a family film, but I told myself that it didn't matter. And the only time anyone looked at me strangely was when I ordered my large popcorn and coke. But that's a non-negotiable part of the experience, in my opinion. I don't care that it's only 11am, I'm having my popcorn dammit!

And the film was really good, so I'm very glad I did go in the end.

I emerged from the cinema into lovely sunshine, so took a walk along the river before deciding to get a boat up to Hampton Court. I didn't go inside, but I did go into the maze. As soon as I went in I wondered if it was a mistake cos I had to be on the last boat back in 45 minutes and I started having visions of wandering the hedges for hours, lost forever in the Hampton Court maze! But fortunately I made it to the centre without much difficulty. I then went back and tried to work out if there's a knack to it. I think keeping hedge on your right hand side the whole time will see you through. It led me to a dead end just before reaching the middle, but other than that it seemed to work.

Wednesday evening saw me joining Paul's usual team for his local pub quiz. I absolutely love pub quizzes and it makes me sad that I haven't been to one in years, so I was very excited about joining this. And, best of all, I was actually useful! There were lots of answers I knew that other people knew too, but there were two that I alone gave the answer to (What item of clothing is named after an atomic testing site? Bikini. Which Roman emperor apparently tried to make his horse a consul? Caligula.) So I feel that I actively contributed to the fact that we won! Yay!

And now, because I don't feel that I have spammed you all with enough photos yet, I present some more than I took on my trip:

( Birds and Flowers )

Day two of my London Adventure saw us baking biscuits and watching Eurovision. I absolutely love Eurovision and think it is one of the greatest events of the year, representing the pinnacle of human achievement in the modern age. Paul does not share this viewpoint. But I made him watch it anyway.

I must say that I was very disappointed in our entry. It's a really good song and I thought we had a real chance of finishing in a decent position this year, but it just did not sound good live. And I definitely could have done without the neon light-up clothes and weird dance moves that had nothing to do with the song. But we didn't come last, so that's something! Although I definitely don't think that either Austria or Germany deserved their nul points.

But I think the biggest surprise of the night to me was that Serbia didn't do better. I mean, tenth isn't a bad spot but I thought they were going to be right up at the top fighting it out with Sweden for first place. It was a lovely song with a wonderful message and I expected it to be a huge success. But apparently Europe did not share my view.

And now the contest is going to Sweden. I'd love to actually go and see it live one of these years. I just need to find someone who'll go with me cos Paul is... not keen. At all.

~*~

Bank Holiday Monday saw us head over to East London. We drank in the pub where Jack the Ripper apparently chose his victims, because Paul likes to take me to only the nicest places. We tried to get into Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium, but alas it was fully booked. And then we had some English wine in another pub, because it was English Wine Week and on a 50% off promotion.

Monday was also the day when I discovered that the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square is no longer home to the big blue cock (I'll miss that cock), but now houses a creepy skeletal horse thing with a stock ticker ribbon tied around its leg.

( Seriously, What? )

~*~

Tuesday was my first day of entertaining myself while Paul went to work. I think I got the better end of the deal though cos while he was stuck in an office doing boring office stuff I was sitting in Green Park eating strawberries in the sunshine and reading my book.

Also, there were pigeons:

( Pigeons )

After spending a while in the sun with some pigeons I decided to head on over to Tate Britain and spend some time staring at my favourite painting:

( Art )

The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse. I could just sit and stare at this painting for ages. And did so. I had a wander around to look at some of the other art too, including Millais's Ophelia and a creepy painting of two women holding two babies that do not look human at all (otherwise known as The Cholmondeley Ladies), but I kept coming back to this one. Because I love it.

Tuesday evening saw another concert. But I'm going to save that for my next entry because I have even more pictures to inflict on share with you all and because Dar deserves her own post.

I have returned from my London adventure! Which, I realise, I didn't actually mention that I was going on, but yeah. I'm back now. I went to London on Saturday and stayed with my friend for the next few days. We went to a couple of concerts, watched Eurovision, baked biscuits, and, on days when he had to work, I found ways to amuse myself out and about. (I'm really proud of myself for that last one cos my social anxiety was like "Just stay inside and watch his Netflix all day" but I told it "NO! No, I am in London, the sun is shining, I have no work and all this free time. I am going to DO STUFF!" And stuff I did.

I'm going to come back and make proper entries later cos I want to give my adventure all the detail it deserves and I don't really have time for that right now. Hopefully tomorrow. It'll give me another excuse to put off tidying the living room, which I desperately need to do but keep not doing. Yay procrastination!

Also, I am currently drinking T.E.A. It's a bitter, which I never thought I would like but it's actually pretty good.