Phew – this LJ entry has been sitting around half-written for days now – so I guess I really should get it out of the way before I forget an entire week of scintillating tales of travel woe.

I’m now officially the Littlest Hobo – or at least that’s the way it felt after a week where I’d slept in 4 different beds – and not all in that exciting phwoar kind of way – much more in the “Will I ever relax and get to sleep” type…

So, last Thursday I was in Birmingham, then Friday to London. I was at the point negotiating whether I have to change the class of travel work pays for – which roughly translates to “Whether I get a seat or not”. I was expecting resolution on Friday so unashamedly had two croissants as I was thought they would be my last.

Needless to say I was right.

So Friday evening which involved going to York courtesy of GNER was done cattle class. I seriously thought that I was going to have to stand all the way there when I saw the state of the train. Fortunately I was wrong and pretended to be someone else. I was mostly amused at the price – a standard single to York was almost the same cost as a first class single to Birmingham.

Still, I got there, on time, and had a lovely curry (LJ user-quote-fest ahoy!) with ant_girl, sarcaustik, ellenscult, ravenlas, lhiss , pre_raphaelite, Yann Jan, Elaine and Colin the chap whose name I've forgotten but I remember something about piano lessons. Much Robin of Sherwood goodness, and literally buckets of curry.

On Saturday I spent a lovely morning in the company of Starbucks (who serve the most tasty (but expensive) Marmite, and some more camera pr0n. Not spending money is proving difficult - as I discovered today when I (briefly) had a bid on a camera for £940.

Then it was off my first girls’ Tea Party. Very pleasant it was too with more vegan choocy cake and a wonderfully eccentric pussy. I got 6 out of 7 on the “What’s your LJ nick” quiz too. I’m such a good stalker. So, that's kissmeforlonger, ant_girl, sara_lou, sarcaustik, foxy76, miss_wonderly and as hostess - everild.

Third stop was York’s goth scene – with live performances from Zeitgeist Zero (ok, some nice ideas, need another couple of tons of producing) and Zombina (infectious enthusiasm which couldn’t help but rub off). I wouldn’t say I’m their greatest fan now, but I’d enjoy seeing them again (couple of weeks then…)

Finally the last LJ-meet appointment courtesy of steer - cocktails. Mmm Pina Colada. Unfortunately due to the aforementioned bed-hopping I’d not been sleeping very well so fell asleep (rather than passed-out) on the chair before being ushered home by someone with much more energy than me. Quote fest stars are: ant_girl, sarcaustik, miss_wonderly, mister_ed, vin_petrol, sara_lou, foxy76, andyguest, clotilde and smorgasbord. I think that's everyone. There are probably some more people I missed from earlier in the night but heh!

Sunday was rush-travel-rush-travel as I raced back to Birmingham to feed the rats, pack then get off to Oxford. Just as I was leaving the house lupercal told me we had a gig on Tuesday. This of course gave me loads of time to pack CDs so I ignored the issue.

Red Sky Coven were good. venta ignored me again (apparently) but met up with lupercal and dreamfire, courtesy of my boglin-chauffer. I enjoyed Rev Hammer so much I’m worried I’m turning into a folk music fan.

Then , Monday was work – v.dull, must do better – and then dinner with uberredfraggle, dreamfire and lupercal. Finally to Big Fish which I actually enjoyed. Or actually I enjoyed the flashbacks for their sense of whimsy and relaxed nature – the modern scenes weren’t as good. Back just before 12 when I started burning CDs. I had 5 CDRs with which to create a set of music to play. This was easy on one hand considering I had to find 30 minutes of music – but not easy in the way that I was not capable of conscious though due to sleep deprivation. I left them burning into the night with a towel on the laptop to suppress noise. Then I realised I had no CDR pen. I decided this would add to the sense of randomness.

To London on Tuesday – very positive day – except I was asked very nicely to be somewhere early Wednesday morning. I just couldn’t say no – so threw away any chance of a lie-in. After London was the joy of getting changed in Burger King toilets (I went in a mild-mannered suit, and emerged as some kind of goth-who-needs-a-shave).

Intrusion was fabby – except for some heavy metal pollution – though the dancefloor is too small. I was pretty happy with my set – and even recovered from one of my CDRs having already become battered into submission and sticking in the middle of Skinflower. We even got paid. I drunk too much Red Bull and dreamed about the Pope.

• 2525 - Laibach


• Skinflower - Young Gods


• Ten Ground and Down - Pigface


• Power - KMFDM


• Im Rhythmus Bleiben - Front 242


• Darkangel (Apoc Mix - Das Ich) - VNV Nation

Nice to see everyone (including venta who didn't ignore me) and to be interviewed by deeply_spurious. I think our next conversation, based on averages, is due in 2007. Lift home with fishthecat then up early to get a car from town, and off to my meeting.

This was also quite pleasant, and set me up for my afternoon appraisal.

I feel sorry for my boss, ignoring how I’m actively seeking SOMETHING! ANYTHING ELSE! but he’s stuck in a very difficult position. However, he does not know how to set objectives. Each one we went through and I said “I can’t be responsible for that” or “How do we measure that”. He says I need more credibility with my colleagues, and to be more visible. I agreed – but how it’s going to happen is beyond me.

Back to the station, met thepurplegoth, then back in Brum for 8pm. Rats were very pleased to see me – until after I fed them when they ignored me. I went to bed too late after getting seduced by one of my favourite crap sci-fi films – Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone. Oh, and there was this Maelstrom thing to read through. I was pleasantly pleased with how well my photos came out – but didn’t pay much attention to anything else except for giggling at the video.

As an aside glad to see that kingandy appreciated my rather scrappy efforts on the train.

Today I slept in a bit, then ha a panic moment when I realised I hadn’t fed the chinchillas and they were most likely to be sizing each other up. Then I did another application form.

Tonight I have discovered that Geeks are cool (Jake 2.0) and now I’m going to watch 24. Tomorrow is B-Movie though and through being the worst driver in the world it looks like I won’t have to stay sober.

Can I stop now?

Current Mood: exhausted