Everything Changes

I recently finished reading Everything Changes by Jonathan Tropper. Thumbs up. Overall a pretty good book that gets you thinking, but also provides some light reading.

I've read a LOT of chick lit - who doesn't love a bit of Marian Keyes every now and then?! So it was interesting to read a similar kind of book written about a man, by a man. I was really looking forward to getting a man's perspective on relationships for a change. And I think I did get that.

But.

The only thing that let's the novel down are the female characters. There are four in total:

1. Hope: The ideal woman

Perfect body. Has all the feminine charms. Great in bed. Good dresser. Something nice to bring home to the parents and make a home with.

2. Tamarra: The damsel in distress

Vulnerable due to unforseen circumstances, but quietly strong. Sensitive, caring and gets inside your head because she really knows you. Needs protection. Sexy.

3. Lela: The mom (yeah, it's American...)

Strong and compassionate. Selfless and loving. Will do anything for her kids. Knows how to pack snacks for a long car ride.

4. Delia: The stripper

Nice rack.

But saying that, I'm sure the types of male characters that feature in chick lit novels aren't too much different. Besides let's face it, how much do we even really know about the opposite sex?!

All in all, a good read.

Difficult is worth doing

And the Honda TV ad has arrived on YouTube:

The Power of Dreams

Wowzer! Did you just see the Honda TV ad just now on Channel 4? Abso-bloody-lutely fantastic!

I read about it in the Metro this morning, but all it featured was a column advert stating something along the lines of 'Tonight. Channel 4 at 8pm. Difficult is worth doing'. So I was intrigued, but had long forgotten about it come five past eight.

Then lo and behold, I'm in the middle of watching Come Dine With Me (love it!) when a bunch of red jumpsuited people fell out of a plane in Spain and spelt out the letters H O N D A respectively as they plummeted back down to ground level. And it was all live!

A massive risk take there, but as Honda says, difficult really is worth doing. The ad isn't available on YouTube yet, but I'm sure it will be soon! If not you can apparently watch it again on the Honda website - if it hasn't crashed yet.

Genius! Well done Honda.

StickGirl in Sardinia

Has it really been over a month? Eek. I've been neglecting my blog a bit lately - life just suddenly sped up and got super busy over the last month or so.

But I'm back after a week long hol to Sardinia. Ah yes, sunny Sardinia...sunny my ass. It poured down with rain for the first three days - and having packed my suitcase full of floaty tops and dresses, this did not bode well. My sheer determination and will that it WOULD STOP RAINING ANY MINUTE NOW also meant that I didn't buy an umbrella during those three days. Fun times.

Still had a good time though - I'd pick Sardinian rain over London rain any day. And when the sun finally did come out for the end half of our holiday, it was even better.

Why a pregnant man really isn't that weird...

I am a little bit concerned.

I've just read The Accidental Scientist's post about a father and daughter in Australia who have just gone public about their relationship and have a 9 month old healthy baby together (full story on The Guardian). Yep, sick and wrong wrong wrong.

But there's something else that's worrying me. After collecting myself and recovering from the shock and uncontrollable cringing, I realised something far more alarming. I was more shocked by this story than the one about the pregnant man! Does that mean I think incest is more unacceptable than a man being pregnant?!

Clearly both stories are socially unacceptable at this point in time - but why was I less gobsmacked by a man carrying a baby? Surely a man and a woman conceiving a child (even if they are father and daughter) is more natural, and hence a smidge more tolerable? Maybe it's because the pregnant man was once a woman, but never fully got rid of his (her?) female reproductive organs. So 'his' pregnancy is not entirely as unnatural as we might have originally thought - he has a uterus!

Look!


(Pregnant man on Oprah)

The pregnant man who used to be a woman is also married to a woman. But they're not a lesbian couple as the transexual man is legally recognised as a male. Ah my head hurts.

So you see, I should be more shocked by this story. Shouldn't I?

But I'm not. A father and a daughter having a baby together still disturbs me more. Maybe it's because a few years ago, gay and lesbian couples getting married, having babies, changing sex etc were no where near as socially acceptable as they are now. And like The Accidental Scientist says, maybe incestuous relationships are heading in this direction too? They're just not there yet.

Big greedy banks

I just got a call from one of the banks I have an account with. A sales call. I think a Monday evening is probably the worst time to make a sales call. Not only are you pissed off that it's Monday and that you barely blinked and the weekend's over - it's also the furthest day away from Friday (Saturdays and Sundays don't really count).

And although a certain part of you feels sorry for telesales people having to meet their targets and get ranted at by annoyed customers who've already received 9 sales calls so far that day - that part of you just isn't that big.

Especially when, like today, the salesperson tells you that due to your being a loyal customer, you are being rewarded with the chance to apply for a new Mastercard credit card. Yes, rewarded!!!



Thank you big greedy bank for giving me the chance to let you take more money from me. No really, thank you.

Together for London

If you're a Londoner, you've probably noticed these friendly faces dotted around the Underground:



Aren't they cheery.

These characters are part of TFL's 'Together for London' campaign which was launched in Feb earlier this year.

TFL is asking us to stop and think about how considerate we are as passengers. I can save you some time pondering, if you do any of these things - you're not.

To be honest, I'm not too sure how effective this campaign's going to be. I mean, if you're the kind of person who won't offer your seat to a pregnant lady, you must be pretty mean. Is a little cartoon character with a big smiley face and a t-shirt saying 'I will offer you my seat', really going to make you see the error of your ways? I think not.

Bring back tomato throwing that's what I say.

"All I want is your cheapest cab, innit"

This clipping was doing the rounds in the office yesterday:



Cockney slang dictionary

Apples and pears = stairs
Dog and bone = phone
Joe Baxi = taxi?!

I'm not really up to date on my cockney slang, and it seems the nice people at directory enquiries aren't either. Joe Baxi, it's a cab innit?

Regular dictionary

Cab innit = cabinet

So that's what the caller got delivered at 10am the next day. Not a cab to Bristol Airport. But an office cabinet.

Just in case you're still confused:



You can't make this stuff up.

Read the full story in The Sun.

Art by StickGirl

A round up of Stuff

The last time I blogged it was March. Now it's April. Where is the time going?! Before you know it, it'll be crimbo again - although it has been a bit confusing what with the snow and it being officially British summer time and all. Let's get this global warming show on the road people.

A lot of things have happened since the last time I blogged, so it's time for a quick round up:

• The BBC discovered that penguins can fly.


• Virgin and Google joined forces, to become...yep, Virgle (nice). And in a joint effort, gave us the opportunity to become a 'Virgle Pioneer' and set up home on Mars.


• The second episode of the Apprentice was on. But unfortunately I didn't get to watch it because Grand Designs was on at the same time, and a certain person, whom we shall call 'StickBoy', wanted to watch it. I'm not bitter.


• A Glass and a Half Full of Happiness has brought us the next Cadbury's TV ad full of airport truck fun. Oh to be an airport truck...
  
  
  
  If I have to have Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now' permanently stuck in my head, so do you.


• The tube strike was on. Then it was off. Leaving us all disappointed that we couldn't 'work from home' in our PJs with Trisha and Jeremy Kyle on in the background to remind us that it's really not that bad having a job.


• Channel 4's Vanity Lair is now over. Genius reality TV: put a bunch of 'beautiful people' in a house and get them to vote on who's most attractive. Ten gripping weeks of 'I'm more beautiful', 'No I'M more beautiful'. I only caught one episode, but I think it was the best one. The housemates decided to strip themselves of all make up and hair products to show just how beautiful they really are. In one contestant's words, 'to push themselves to the max of attractiveness'. Hahaha, like I said, genius.


• And of course loads of other important stuff too.

The Apprentice

The new season of The Apprentice started last night. A with it brought the two most annoying people IN THE WORLD (yes, even more annoying than Car Giant Man and Kerry Katona - combined. urgh.)

I'm talking about Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and Raef Bjayou. They've obviously been cast in the show to provide some 'good TV' - there really can't be any other reason. They're both pompous, arrogant, whiny mummy's boys, in desperate need of a haircut. Look:


Nicholas de Lacy-Brown


Raef Bjayou

Thankfully, Nicholas was fired last night - hooray! I really don't think I could stand watching two floppy-haired ponces every week.

I'm not just being mean, they really are a joke. Nicholas for example, was born Nicholas Brown. But he decided to add the 'de Lacy' bit because 'he felt it sounded more sophisticated'. He also listed one of his interests as 'reading in the bath surrounded by candles'. Wouldn't just 'reading' have been enough? It's The Apprentice not a lonely hearts ad.

And as for Raef. He used to be an estate agent. Enough said.

Find out more at www.bbc.co.uk/apprentice. For a run down of yesterday's episode, read Tre's Column (good old Tre, he's back!)

Bring back the milkman

When was the last time you saw one of these?



(it's a milk float)

This morning I was staring out my bedroom window in that glazed 'oh but didn't I just go to sleep?' kind of way - when I saw a milk float go by. Yes, a MILK FLOAT (caps make things seem more real). I think I may have even done a cartoon double take (and obviously the milk float was still there - they're not really that fast are they? aw).

I can't remember the last time I saw a milk float...maybe well over 10 years ago?! And then along came the Tesco type giants with their cheap pints of milk and it was bye bye to Mr Milkman (to the delight of paranoid husbands throughout the land).

But let's face it, supermarket milk may be less expensive, but it's just not quite the same when you have to go and get it yourself...

Stick Girl in Another City

I'm tired. (But still find time to blog. That's dedication for you).

Today I travelled, in total, about 8 hours. For a 3 hour meeting. Meaning my meeting wasn't even HALF the time I spent travelling. Humph. No wait - HUMPH.

But actually, I've accomplished quite a lot today on my return trip to Manchester:

1. I finished reading Memoirs of a Geisha.


2. I had a productive meeting.


3. I watched two episodes of Sex & the City.


4. I developed a muscle in my right arm from lugging around my MacBook in my handbag, along with all my other necessary bits (like my meeting notes, Sex & the City DVDs etc).

So all in all, a productive day.

Don't you just love John Mayer

Don't forget to visit www.youtube.com/mayermusic

Man presents

It's my dad's birthday this week - and that means picking out a 'man present' (I think it's safe to blog about this, my dad isn't too web savvy. The other day he referred to our wireless internet router as 'the box where the internet comes from').

Exciting man presents are really difficult to find, especially when they're for your dad. Especially when Christmas wasn't that long ago. Especially when you repeatedly ask him what he'd like and get the follow alternate answers:

a) "nothing"
b) "a new car"



That's really not helpful. Although I did follow up option b), but when asking what car he'd like, he reverted back to option a). Older not wiser as they say...

In the end I went for the good old trusty jumper. Not very exciting I know. But it is a silk/wool mix - which is preeeeetty exciting when it comes to jumpers!

Point made.