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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
skordh's LiveJournal:
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| Thursday, December 25th, 2008 | | 11:26 pm |
| | Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 | | 12:11 am |
| | Thursday, August 28th, 2008 | | 10:47 pm |
According to this, I am 100% unique and 0% herdlike. But surely I only did the meme in the first place because of my herdlike nature? So, skordh, your LiveJournal reveals...
You are... 100% unique (blame, for example, your interest in pennypaperbrain) and 0% herdlike. When it comes to friends you are popular. In terms of the way you relate to people, you are keen to please. Your writing style (based on a recent public entry) is conventional.
Your overall weirdness is: 104(The average level of weirdness is: 28.
You are weirder than 98% of other LJers.)
Find out what your weirdness level is! Yay for weirdness! Current Mood:  weird | | Sunday, June 8th, 2008 | | 10:43 pm |
| | Thursday, March 27th, 2008 | | 10:25 pm |
Some naturally occuring amusement
I've been meaning for some time to record some recent conversations in and around the Skordh household. Well, they entertained me (but then I am easily amused...) (1) Time to rationalise our stuff prior to the new arrival... ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) skordh: Look, I've been through these bookcases and made a pile of all the books we might want to get rid of. jane_somebody: Careful! You've left them on my Celtic Needlepoint book. We don't want that getting mixed up in the pile. skordh: Er... that is part of the pile... (to howls of outrage) (2) El leaps on his mummy in an affectionate way... prince_eldarion: Mummy, I love you, I love you, I love you! jane_somebody (touched): I love you too, El! Very much! prince_eldarion (thoughtfully): I don't. I love you ... a little bit! (3) After I took El out to look at one of the local sights... prince_eldarion (pointing at something off to the side): What's that? skordh (trying to work out what is indicated): I think it's a lamp post, for lighting up the playing fields. prince_eldarion: No, I meant the windmill! skordh Gah! But if you *knew already*.... Current Mood:  amused | | Thursday, February 7th, 2008 | | 9:12 pm |
| | Tuesday, December 25th, 2007 | | 12:38 am |
Merry Christmas!
Can I take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy and peaceful Christmas. Have a great day! Current Mood:  jubilant | | Tuesday, December 11th, 2007 | | 5:06 pm |
Cool!
| You Should Have a Purple Christmas Tree | 
For you, the holidays represent a time of creativity and expression.
There's no way you'd do something bland simply for tradition's sake.
You are an independent person, and you definitely do the holidays your own way.
And you're decadent enough to go way over the top with any unusual holiday ideas you have.
Your purple tree would look great with: Purple lights and ornaments
You should spend Christmas Eve watching: A Christmas Story
What you should bake for Santa: "Kitchen sink" cookies - with a ton of things in them |
Actually, I already have a purple tree. Or rather Polly does, on our bedroom windowsill. Sorted. | | Monday, November 26th, 2007 | | 10:57 pm |
OK bowing to peer pressure...
In 2007,  skordh resolves to... Start a pennypaperbrain fund. Learn to play the foradan. Cut down to ten malaheeds a day. Backup my jezzidue regularly. Connect with my inner gaspodex. Eat more chainmailmaidens.  freaked | | Saturday, September 29th, 2007 | | 2:34 pm |
I hoped we'd be able to say this in person, but failing that: Happy Birthday becky_c!!! | | Monday, May 7th, 2007 | | 12:40 am |
An applepost
I was just reading one of Neuromancer's excellent email updates and realised how fast life is going by and how little of it I've been recording on LJ. One thing have I particularly been meaning to relate was how our appleboy prince_eldarion got a bit confused about words a few weeks ago. We have been pretty strict about just giving him water as his main drink with food (in addition to lots of breast milk of course). Anyway a couple of times for a treat & for extra sustenance we gave him water mixed with apple juice, which we explained was applewater. El obviously liked this very much - he clearly preferred it to ordinary water - and he asked for more applewater, in fact he still does. However it turned out that he had made a perfectly logical - but incorrect - deduction about the meaning of the 'apple' prefix. We could tell because he suddenly wanted: - not just milk but applemilk - not just ordinary corned beef but applebeef - etc.. including once not just his regular mummy but his applemummy. This applephase lasted quite a while despite our explaining that an applesomething was not in fact a really good something but a something with apple in it... and he has just about moved on, fingers crossed. But he was a particularly endearing applebaby while it lasted. Current Mood:  paternal | | Monday, November 13th, 2006 | | 10:46 pm |
End of booklessness
7 days later and I've finished my experimental week without books. I was fairly successful in sticking to this. I didn't read a book for pleasure but I did end up stretching some of my other rules. I spent longer reading LJ, and I also read more of the BBC News site than I really should have done (no newspaper columnists though - I don't think I missed much there). I did spend a lot of time reading adverts on the tube, glancing at the front pages of other people's papers, and I did find myself last night, after 6 nights of withdrawal, watching a few minutes of a movie instead of reading a book before going to bed! I managed to restrict myself to music and music radio rather than audio books and talk radio. But there's music and music. Mine had lyrics and often a story - kind of cheating? And is music radio still different from talk radio when most of it is the DJ talking? So not a perfect experiment perhaps. But what do I conclude? 1) I think I probably *am* more 'effective' in life without books. I think it's mostly just the time saved - I did do much more on the train than I otherwise would have done and went to sleep more promptly at night. There is, perhaps, another effect which is about my attention and my brain being less cluttered: spending more time with my mind freewheeling helps a little bit perhaps in thinking about things more - making links - and thinking ahead to future problems / issues. 2) I still have a tendency to get very involved in particular things in the way that I would in a book e.g. in a work task, or a home task (that requires the brain) and focus on it to the exclusion of other things - using it as an 'escape' perhaps. So if that's a problem, it remains a problem. Not reading books doesn't help it! 3) Life without books is less fun! It did have a cumulative grinding down effect. I missed reading considerably even though I was far less deprived of text, stories, and suchlike than when I ended up bookless in the Western Isles in the 1980s. It's just nice to have a good book on the go! So I will happily go back to reading, but I will try and keep it more disciplined than before (hard when it's a good new Diana Wynne Jones though, which was part of my problem last week). On with the show. So I first need to get back to the closing chapters of 'Friday' by Robert A. Heinlein, and then I think it's time to re-read 'Dune' again. Very appropriate for moving house: 'Thufir, what're you thinking?' Paul asked.
Hawat looked at the boy. 'I was thinking we'll all be out of here soon and never likely to see the place again.'
'Does that make you sad?'
'Sad? Nonsense. Parting from friends is a sadness. A place is only a place.' Current Mood:  relieved | | Saturday, November 11th, 2006 | | 6:19 am |
House moving, builders & books (lack of) update
It's my turn on baby watch tonight and prince_eldarion is a bit restless (and so therefore am I). I thought I would make a quick post to update on various matters! Our house moving is on for next Friday 17th after a rather stressful day on Thursday. We exchanged contracts at the last minute - almost 5pm - after our buyers eventually picked up a deposit draft from their bank some time after 4pm and raced across town to give it to their solicitors before close of business. Phew - very glad that got done and we are not back to square one after all this work. On the other hand - arrgh! We have a lot more to do in not much time. jane_somebody has been heroic not just in doing a lot of the most stressful work with lawyers, buyers, estate agents but also in parallel getting quotes from and choosing a removal firm. This is now done and we are expecting a load of burly guys (and gals? maybe) to turn up next Thursday to start packing our stuff. Thanks to everyone who offered advice on getting builders. We had some encouraging progress in that the builder who had all along seemed most interested in the work did actually turn up on Thursday to give a quote. He says he'll be back next week, if he can fix the windowsill, great, if not we will follow chainmailmaiden's suggestion and just reimburse the new owners when they get the work done. I got very few replies from other builders whose attitude seems to be, they are far too busy (because they are good builders) and can't recommend any other builders because those who are good, are already far too busy. Oh well. My week without books has been a bit gruelling so far. Yes, it's been busy so not much time to read but I would always, previously, have found time to squeeze in a good deal of reading around other things. I think I have been more effective in getting work things done (in a very busy week) and in focusing on other things than I would otherwise have been. I have noticed at some points perhaps being more aware of the world around me than I would otherwise have been. This is not just reading posters, newspaper headlines, any sort of print that came into view - though that is part of it! But also noticing and appreciating my surroundings more. But I wouldn't say I have suddenly become a more lucid person with a less cluttered brain. And it's been a little grim without entertaining reading material to help get me through the day. I have of course done much more LJing than usual so that must be good, right? Anyway I think I will definitely cease my book fast when the week is up (on Monday evening) but I might try and find some ways to keep my reading in check in future. Current Mood: awakeCurrent Music: Occasional baby grumbles | | Wednesday, November 8th, 2006 | | 12:53 pm |
Builders - can anyone advise me
Hi all. Well. It looks like our house move to Mundeli Sarnieva may be on, in that it looks like everyone will be ready to exchange contracts tomorrow, and people seem to be settling on a moving date of Friday 17 November. So fingers crossed as there's many a slip 'twixt - er - well 'twixt any 2 stages of the house buying process. One slip was made by one of our concrete exterior windowsills which cracked away from the house a few days ago. We discovered it when we noticed incongruous bits of concrete on the patio outside the back door. I explained to our buyers this had happened (in case they drove by and saw a bit missing from our house) and said I would get it fixed. So we really need to get this repaired before moving and it's proving very difficult to get hold of a builder. I got a list from the Federation of Master Builders who have a useful sounding builder search facility and phoned some of them. The one guy who got back to me sounded interested but has not yet actually turned up to look at the job so I'm starting to get a little concerned! I've now chased that guy up & left a message for some more builders from the list. I also tried the builder finder again. You can search for builders prepared to do 'emergency call-out' which I did. Answer = none at all. I understand that the job I am talking about isn't really general building but 'maintenance' so I searched for that. That brought up a list of people based at least 5 miles away. Yes if I want someone to build me a house there are plenty prepared to do it. Fixing a windowsill is looking much more tricky. So can anyone advise me? - Any builders or builder customers out there who can give me tips on getting a builder to come and do this job? - Anyone who is or knows a builder in the North Bucks area who might help me out?? Any suggestions gratefully received! | | 1:38 am |
Week long book fast - day 2
Well, not too bad so far. I feel a little odd. But I have read an awful lot of work emails today so my craving for text is probably satisfied that way to a certain extent. Then there has been a bit of LJ this evening. I'm hanging on. Several people asked why I have decided to cut out books for a week. Several reasons I guess. Partly because of uncontrolled reading habits causing problems to other priorities like sleep and (occasionally) work - if I have a complete break it may help to regulate reading in future. Partly because I'm concerned that I may be reading myself through life rather than actually living it - just getting by until the next book fix, in effect, rather than looking at things around me & interacting. Partly because I wonder if I'm not doing enough thinking in any case because I spend a lot of time passively absorbing book contents rather than wondering about things (though there is a fair amount of time spent wondering about books I guess). And partly I'm just curious to see what it will be like after many many years of unbroken reading... Current Mood:  groggy | | Tuesday, November 7th, 2006 | | 1:17 am |
Cold turkey
My name is Skordh and ... I'm a bookaholic. Yes no matter how busy things get I always need to spend certain amount of time per day reading or my brain begins to turn to mush and the world looks kind of funny. When I was about twelve years old I went on a backpacking tour of the Isle of Harris with my parents and two other families. My parents persuaded me that we had to pack the absolute minimum and this meant - no books! Within a couple of days I was in serious withdrawal, frothing and chewing my boots. I couldn't stand not having a book to read. Luckily one of the other children had a 'choose your own adventure' book and I was allowed to borrow it. I went through every one of the permutations - several times over - over the course of the next few days. It kept me sane - just. So, 21 years later, why am I proposing to deny myself books again? Because I wonder if my book addiction is taking its toll on other aspects of life. Am I as attentive to other things as I might be knowing that I can escape into a book? Is my literary opiate deadening my other senses? Is my chronic lack of time in part due to too much time spent reading and re-reading books? Is too much of my brain taken up with mental bookmarks recording the current position of various different stories? The books speak up to defend themselves. Tolkien had a good deal to say about allegations of "escapism" and argued that it can be the quite justifiable escape of a Prisoner rather than the treacherous flight of a Deserter. But is it sometimes the latter in my case? Michael Ende was rather scathing about 'time-savers' in his book 'Momo'. But the point was to take time for things that matter and sometimes books, er, don't. So, here goes a short and hopefully non-fatal experiment. I am going cold turkey for a week, to see what happens and whether a somewhat less booky lifestyle might do me good. I will not: - read a book for pleasure whether on the train, tube, in bed, or even ( grits teeth) in the bath - listen to an audio book, or talk radio (which are just like books that leave your hands free while occupying most or all of the thinking centres of the brain) - read internet newspapers or Wikipedia at work in my lunch break (like reading books but more work-friendly as it doesn't look so lazy) ... until next Monday night. I will however be allowed to: - read work stuff - read stories to prince_eldarion as required (the volume of these may go up) - watch vids with jane_somebody- check livejournal (but not obsessively) - write. None of these were things I could do on the Isle of Harris in the mid 1980s, so hopefully it won't be quite so bad second time round... Hmm. I am not looking forward to this. Wish me luck! Current Mood:  worried | | Wednesday, November 1st, 2006 | | 4:12 pm |
It's that time of year again... | | 4:01 pm |
| My LiveJournal Trick-or-Treat Haul |
|---|
| skordh goes trick-or-treating, dressed up as a demon. | | beckyc tricks you! You get a used tissue. | | foradan gives you 3 tan lime-flavoured pieces of bubblegum. | | gaspodex tricks you! You get a rotten egg. | | gayalondiel gives you 6 white orange-flavoured gummy bats. | | jane_somebody tricks you! You get a clothespin. | | jezzidue tricks you! You lose 1 pieces of candy! | | killalla gives you 17 light orange peach-flavoured pieces of taffy. | | ladyofastolat tricks you! You get a dead frog. | | tovaglia tricks you! You get a toothbrush. | | wimble tricks you! You lose 23 pieces of candy! | | skordh ends up with 2 pieces of candy, a used tissue, a rotten egg, a clothespin, a dead frog, and a toothbrush. | | Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern. |
I guess I deserved that for doing it a day late! Current Mood:  angry | | Wednesday, September 27th, 2006 | | 1:09 am |
A lexicon of childcare
It's been a while since posting and I should really provide a more general update on various things several of them baby related. To help you understand what I'm talking about when I do get round to that I thought I had better provide a lexicon of specialist childcare terms in the Skordh / Somebody household. ( Childcare lexicon )Best wishes to all on the flist and belated happy birthdays to, er, just about everyone!! | | Sunday, August 13th, 2006 | | 7:18 pm |
Bible commentary baby style
At church this morning: Priest: Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." prince_eldarion: Num, num! |
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