I see the buddy list has stopped turning orange again. Hmm.
I'd just started to like that, too.
I'm totally shattered after work today. I did 2 hours of photocopying for the AGM which wore me out. It may well be a once-a-year job but it may well take me the rest of the year to recover :) Copiers have it in for me. They always have done. This one gobbled up paper faster than a... a.... mutant paper-munching machine. It was fun though - really reminded me of working at the college in many ways. Tomorrow Y is coming down for the weekend so we'll get to see Eurovision together! I'm really looking forward to it! I've not got the energy for days out this time so we may well be spending a lot of time in bed. perfect weekend if you ask me!
I'm feeling better for the decision I made regarding the necklace. It feels like the best way to give closure to it. I suppose I'm one of those people who needs some sort of closing gesture before I can let go of something. I should have done something with it years ago, I've just never known what. Going back through all those folders has stirred up a few bad memories, but it's also been constructive. I can see how I've changed over the years and I know it's been for the better. A couple of years ago I'd still have been in tears over the end of that friendship but now I'm a little bit stronger.
And other good things have come out of my grand clear-out. I've gotten back in touch with friends I've not seen in years and I'm hoping to meet up again very soon with them, I've found a whole pile of nasty cuttings from magazines to launch on unsuspecting people (*cough*Kass*cough*!) and most of all I've been inspired to start writing again. In a bizarre way, I've almost caught a little glimpse again of the way things were when I was a real part of the Bugs fandom. I yearn for those days, but since I can never get them back the least I can do is go back to my series of books. I've been rereading a few of the old ones this week and I feel the need to get back into writing them!
It's bizarre, but one thing I've learned this week is that sometimes you need to look back to move on.
I still don't know what to do with the sodding T*ggy pictures though :/
Back in the present day, Running Man has been trying yet more new tactics! Today he not only arrived extra-early for his train but he almost ran straight into the back of me in his rush to get up to the platform. he knew he wasn't late - he knew he was at least 10 minutes early, but that didn't stop the footsteps from thundering as he ran up about 6 steps at a time. I could hear the puffing and panting as I walked up them myself and I knew who it was. How many other people mutter about trains under their breath and swing shopping bags around as they go, after all?
I tried to quicken my pace as I could almost feel him panting behind me. I dashed out the way just in time as he bypassed me and marched along the platform calling "Excuse me...." to some unspecified person or object. I dropped to the floor, almost panting myself from my nasty encounter. To think, I came within inches of having one of Running Man's shopping bags jammed into my back. I didn't know whether to feel honoured or terrified :/
As well as Running Man there are other fixtures on the platform in the morning. There's a man who looks like a mad scientist who has been catching that same train ever since I used to work in dorking, there's a woman who put a red streak in her grey hair for red nose day and it's not washed out since and there's 'The Girl'. The girl is... well, she's gorgeous. I may have mentioned her before, I'm not sure. She's just so pretty. The first time I saw her I couldn't take my eyes off of her. Then it became clear that she caught that train every day and I got to see her every time I went to work. I used to try to sit as close to her as humanly possible without being too obvious.
But then something strange started to happen. She started to sit close to me! If I got on the train without spotting her then she'd come and sit near me, however far down the train I was, as though she was looking for me. In the last 3 months there's not been a single journey in which I haven't seen her. The most we've exchanged is a smile. I can't help wondering if she looks for me the same way I look for her. Y says I should make contact with her and see if I'm correct and believe it or not I'm actually thinking about it. Yes, me, the world-class coward :)
Still, *everyone* likes to be told they're attractive, don't they? So even if it's a big coincidence I have nothing to lose :)
Onto other matters, saturday is Eurovision! One of my favourite events of the year! My other is Wimbledon, which is only a month or so away now. I'm thinking of reviving the Sampras lookalike feature from last year. But yes, Eurovision comes first. Anyone who's followed any of my previous diaries will know the fascination I have with it. It all started in 1995, the first time I watched it with subtitles. Not only did foreign lyrics become comepletely bizarre in translation but there were so many mistakes that I couldn't stop laughing. Live subtitle translation is a sight to behold!
I started making notes of the best lines and mistakes, and gradually over the next few years these notes started to become longer and more complex. In 2001 I finally got to share this experience with Y and pass on my fascination to him. I wrote about it in my diary, and again last year - and the subtitle-watching is apparently a more popular activity than I thought possible! So, yes, on saturday night Y and I will be watching and laughing, and mocking Terry Wogan as is the law. And if you want to watch Eurovision the Miranda way then follow these simple guidelines:
1) Have the subtitles on if possible! This is my whole reason for watching. And because NTL's subtitles can be recorded onto video I'll get to keep them this year for the first time!
2) Don't hate Eurovision because it's cheesy - LOVE it because it's cheesy!
3) Vote for the entry with the most attractive people in it
4) Have a glass of water on hand to refresh the dry mouth from laughing your head off
5) remember to take the piss out of the Eurovision logo at the begining of the programme. Y sent me a picture of it in my email as a nasty surprise today.... Grr.....
6) Evict any sensible people from the room
7) Brace yourself for the horror of whatever they put on during the break for voting. You can guarantee this will be the one part of the show that not even subtitles will add humour to!
and lastly, 8) Think of me sitting at home, in my element as the presenters make complete fools of themselves, the subtitling department go into overload and the singers perform gimmicks that don't have a hope in hell of getting them votes!
Right, I'm back in the morning before Y arrives for one final does of pre-Eurovisioness..... and a Eurovision-related surprise!
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