This is gonna be a long one...

[blood_winged]

I've been slacking off a bit with entries lately but here I am again.

Last Thursday, I spent some very fun times with nasty_show. I was waiting until she got her entry up so I could snag her photos and if I could I would be lazy and link to it but it is unfortunately friends locked so here we go :V

We met up at about quarter to one because I was derpy and late, and I must have had one of the slowest and rudest bus drivers working for First. Pleh. Anyway I got there eventually and was very happy to see the squishy derp that is Holly because I love her face.

First thing we did was to get some food, because we were hungry folk! So I followed Holly down to a Chinese buffet restaurant called.. 'The Chinese Buffet'. Inventive, yes. I then watched in awe as she put away three plates of food and desert, while I managed two plates and desert. To my infinite delight I realised while she was eating that she holds her knife and fork in the same odd way that I do when she eats (fork in her right hand, knife in her left) and she doesn't know why she does it either! She also wears her watch on her right wrist despite being right handed, which I also do. :D No one else in our families does it except us. We spent two hours in the restaurant which is really some kind of record for me but I didn't notice the time passing at all.

I paid, which I think Holly felt a bit guilty about xD But she paid last time so it was only fair, right? Then we meandered over to the museum and went down into the aquarium. It isn't a big place but it's nice and quiet and I like it in there, and I swear all of the big fish have goofy teeth. Seriously, look at this dude.



Look at those teeth! I mean wtf.

We were peering into a tank which was being refilled, I assumed after being cleaned, and suddenly Holly jumps and points, and then I jump, because there's a man stood at the top of the tank! He was feeding the fish, and he saw me jump and laughed, then suddenly flicked a glob of food at the glass and made us jump again! When he walked away I said to Holly, 'he's going to come back with a hosepipe' and yep, he came back with a hosepipe. Then he pointed to the next tank along, and went on feeding the fish. A few minutes later he came out from behind the back and talked to us for a bit, telling us about how the fish in Bolton are the best fed fish in the UK because of how much effort they put into finding out what the fish would be eating in the wild. He also told us that the goofy teeth on the fish were actually a kind of inbuilt escargot fork!


One of these.

Nature just thinks of everything =o

Sadly he didn't feed the piranha because they'd already been fed a lot that week and were on a diet. Sad. But maybe if we go again he'll feed them then :D

After we'd had a look in there we went into the Egypt exhibit in the museum and yet again it was quiet. Holly wasn't sure if she could take photos so I went to ask and had to sign something to say I'd not use them commercially, 'cause some of the things were copyrighted. I guess that kind of applies more to the art gallery (which I didn't take any pictures in) but.. they won't ever find me on LJ 8D

I've nabbed a few of Holly's photos but some of them are mine. Peruse at your pleasure.




There was also a mummified person, which Holly did not like at all, but I took a picture. I said I'd just link it because dead people are a squick-point for a lot of people, so it's here if you want to look.

Also, here we are. I took a sneaky photo of Holly. Holly's photo of me is not so sneaky.



We were playing a game. I lost. xD

We had a look in the gallery, which had some old black and white pics of 1950s/60s Bolton up and it was kind of funny to see how hairstyles are coming back around.

After that, we wandered around Bolton for a bit and Holly got me a Butterfinger and oh my god. I want another one. It will not be too soon before I can have another one of those.

Aside from that fun day I've been working. Still haven't heard back from my job interview (which was two weeks ago last Thursday), but I'm hoping to soon. If I don't hear by Thursday I'm going to give them a call but my optimism is beginning to droop a little. Still.. fingers crossed, right?

I've also joined an RP group on Dreamwidth called Ruby City. It's a pan-universe RP and I was lucky enough to be told by fae_boleyn that they had a spot open for an England. I would say anyone who likes RPing should have a look, and yeah it looks kind of complicated at first but it really isn't! >3<;

I picked up a plastic cone for my dog yesterday. He's got an infection in his pads again (for the third time) and he just won't leave them alone. He's been going at them so much he's made the back left one bleed twice now. He went to the vets yesterday, and had a shot of antibiotics and some anaesthetic to make the pain stop, and he has some medication for the infection, but he still wouldn't leave his feet alone. On my way home I walk past a vet's and I popped in, explained the problem and she sold me a cone to put on him. Now he's all mopey. He does not like the cone of shame.

In some interesting personal news I got a letter today, from Andy Burnham, the Member of Parliament for the Leigh constituency and the Shadow Health Secretary. I'd written to him a little while ago concerning the NHS reforms but I never expected to get a letter back. I'm kind of pleased with it so I'm going to type it up :V

Dear Ms Southwell

Thank you for contacting me recently concerning the Government's Health and Social Care Bill and the failure of the Department of Health to publish the transition risk assessment for this controversial and ill-conceived Bill.

I share the concern that many local people, health professionals, staff and patients have about the Government's reorganisation of the NHS, which I have always thought is unnecessary and that it will risk the break-up of the NHS as a national public service.

I am also disappointed that the Government have repeatedly refused to publish the transition risk register for the Bill, which details the Department of Health's assessment of the potential impact and effects of the Government's reorganisation of the NHS.

As Shadow Health Secretary I have repeatedly pressed the Government the publish this register and the independent Information Commissioner has also ruled that publication is important to informing public and Parliamentary debate of the Government's Bill and to highlight the potential impact of the Government's reforms.

I agree that the Department of Health's transition risk assessment is an extremely important document and given the risks that the Government are taking with the NHS and the importance of the NHS to the public, it is absolutely essential that Parliament, health professionals and the public are able to scrutinise it during the passage of the Health and Social Care Bill.

The Government have appealed against the Information Commissioner's ruling that the Department of Health must publish the transition risk assessment and a ruling is expected on this appeal in March. I do not think, however, that the Government should wait until then and rather than continuing to drag this issue through the courts, they should publish the transition risk register immediately.

I led the debate on an Opposition motion in the House of Commons on 22nd February that called for the Government to publish the transition risk register. Unfortunately, the Government did not listen to the widespread concerns that have been expressed about this issue and the Opposition's motion was defeated.

I also share the wide public concern about the Health and Social Care Bill, which I agree should be dropped. The Government have failed to build any form of professional, political or public consensus to support their proposals and I fear this Bill risks fragmenting and fundamentally altering a service that we all value and rely on. That is why I voted against the Government's proposal at Third Reading and why I think it is vital that the Government now publish the transition risk assessment on the Bill immediately.

Thank you once again for writing to me and for sharing your views and I can assure you that I will continue to press the Government on this issue and to drop the Health and Social Care Bill.

Yours sincerely
Andy Burnham

So.. yeah! The MP sent me a letter! =D I met him once, he's pretty nice. :3 I'll be keeping that letter.

Okay, I have a couple of things I want to get done tonight, namly a Giripan fic that (*GUILT*) I should have had done a week ago but wittitwitty reeeeeeeally wants me to finish it so I'm gonna.

chiisana00 pointed out that I'm getting kind of predictable with what I'll write for USUK, and it kind of stung but I have to admit she's right. I write fluffy one-shots because they're easy but all fluff tends to end in the same way so I've finally struck on an AU which I think I can make something of. I don't want to stop writing USUK, because I love it, but I don't want to run myself into a rut and become boring.

Anyways that's all for today~ Well done if you got this far!

*gives cookie*

Comments

[chiisana00.livejournal.com]

/Noms cookie/

[blood-winged.livejournal.com]

xDD

[sir-pinkleton.livejournal.com]

That fish looks like a red neck.

[blood-winged.livejournal.com]

*plays banjo*

[synnerxx.livejournal.com]

Yay, that sounds like a fun trip! Glad you had fun! :D

Derp fish is derpy. Lol.

That's cool that you got a letter back. Very interesting to read.

Also, Butterfingers are amazing. :D

Write all the things! \o/

*noms cookies*

[blood-winged.livejournal.com]

ALL THE THINGS \o/

[kasumicc.livejournal.com]

fork in her right hand, knife in her left
Is this not common? x.x I've always found it uncomfortable to eat with the fork in your left hand...

That's some creepy fish xD

Why some people have the mindset that fluff is to be avoided, I'll never understand it. I myself don't mind reading lots of fluff, and I think it's kind of a challenge for writers to make fluff refreshing and interesting. Now then, that may be just me. But actually, I don't see your writing as a sugar-coated fluffy thing; more often than not, your writing involves pretty interesting plots and even a good deal of conflict; that helps a lot with fleshing characters. Now if fluff gets mingled with that somehow, I don't see it as a bad thing, myself...

[blood-winged.livejournal.com]

In the UK, it's etiquette to hold your fork in your right hand if you are ONLY using your fork, but to hold your fork in your left and knife in your right if you're using both. Restaurants will be laid out with the knife on the right and the fork on the left. I've always eaten the opposite way, no one taught me to do it (in fact it was discouraged) but I can't for the life of me figure out the co-ordination to do it the other way around.

Well, C wasn't saying fluff was to be AVOIDED. She reads everything I write, and wanted to read some USUK so I jokingly recommended myself, at which point she said she'd read all my stuff loads of times and that I was getting a little predictable with how my stories would go. She's right, my one shots are generally the same kind of thing but I find angst or other things more wearing to write. Fluff is easy for one-shots, but I prefer chapterfics for broader genres.

Which is why I'm working on one now :)

[pushkingram.livejournal.com]

I may be mistaken, but I don't believe father discouraged you, he just has the brain of a derp fish and kept forgetting to set the tsble that way.

Or has the brain of a derp fish and forgot he did discoursgement.

xx

[blood-winged.livejournal.com]

Hehehe <3

[pandawolf.livejournal.com]

Wow, the mummy photo is fascinating. Is it a he or a she? And the position is a bit eyebrow-raising. I mean, certain tribes here practice mummifying and position is sometimes like that too.

Never give up on USUK! *munching on cookies*

[blood-winged.livejournal.com]

The mummy is a he. He was mummified in a sitting position which is why the jaw has dropped the way it has. :)