I've moved...

You may be wondering why I haven't posted for a while, well actually I've moved over to Wordpress, click the picture above to view my new blog.

Bill Gates...very rich and very wise.

Giving a speech at a school in the US, Bill Gates explained why being politically correct in schools, has turned out a generation of people with unrealistic expectations on life. He lists 11 things kids do not learn in school.

Enjoy them, I did...

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity . Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now.. They got th at way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Go Bill!!!

Thanks to blogger...

I've discovered Dangerous Muse this morning...thanks guys, their music is right up my street!!

You can read more about them on their blog click here!

Another netsuke to the collection...

...just this minute purchased this Netsuke Monster Mask (2.25" x 1.75") on eBay. Japanese boxwood, signed with cord holes to the rear. A snip at £4.95+postage.

I can't believe it's Potter...

Yes, shock, horror look at how grown up Dan Radcliffe has become. It only seems like a few minutes ago when he was a little 10yr old. My how time has flown and it's been very good to him as you can see. This is a recent publicity shot for a play he is appearing in called Equus, in which he apparently performs naked. If you're wondering he's currently 17 years old!

Alien Song

Ok, so I do have a sense of humour too, even if it is a sense of the ridiculous and camp! Enjoy the clip!

Jesus the musical.

In response the Catholic Church's opposition to allow gay couples to use their adoption services in the UK when the new antidiscrimination law comes into effect in April of this year.

I am proud to present.....(drum roll)

Jesus. The Musical.

New Netsuke to add to the collection

I've just bought this new netsuke from ebay...4.5mm x 3.5mm, made from non restricted mammoth ivory.

Holocaust memorial day 27th January

The 27th January will be Holocaust Memorial Day. It's significance is obvious to those whose lives were affected by the Nazis "final soloution" during World War 2, however it also has a significance for me as well, although I'm not Jewish I shall be remembering all the gay men and lesbians who were also exterminated by the Nazis. Why? Read on...

"Thriving gay and lesbian communities had developed in Germany from 1900 to the early 1930s. This changed when the Nazis came into power in 1933. The Nazis declared aim was the eradication of homosexuality. During 12 years in power they implemented a broad range of persecutory measures. An estimated 50,000 gay men were sentenced and imprisoned, some of whom faced the death penalty. Up to 15,000 gay men were deported to concentration camps and made to wear the pink triangle symbol which identified them as homosexual men. Many of these Pink Triangle detainees were subjected to starvation and hard labour, castration, medical experiments and collective murder actions. Lesbianism was not illegal in Germany, so lesbians did not suffer the same level of persecution as gay men. However, there is historical evidence of police records being collected on lesbians and of lesbians being sent to concentration camps on the grounds of their sexual orientation. They were known as Green Triangle detainees.

New research shows that in Austria lesbians were criminalised and liable for prosecution and persecution. After the war, neither the Allies nor the German or Austrian States recognised gay men or lesbians as victims alongside other groups, so they were not considered eligible for compensation. Only in 2001 was the German and Swiss Bank compensation programme extended to include gay victims. Nazi laws against homosexuality remained in place in Germany until 1967. Unsurprisingly, very few victims of wartime persecution came forward to fight for recognition. Those that did were often further victimised. Comparatively few known victims are still alive today." (source, Stonewall)

Visitors in the night...

I'm mentioned previous that one of the worst things about blogging, is that you never know if anyone out there is taking any notice. I've had a few comments left on my blog, so I know some people are stumbling across me from time to time. I've added a hit counter on my blog top left hand corner. This is really for my benefit, so that I can feel as though I'm not just talking to a void. If the number goes up occasionally, at least I'll know that someone somewhere is taking notice. I've rigged the counter so that it records unique hits, which means if the same person hits me twice it'll only count them once, something witchcrafty about recording ip addresses, it's all technobable and I'm sure someone somewhere will understand it.

Published Articles/Essays

I've had a couple of articles/essays published, you can view them by clicking on the links in the new section on the sidebar.

Ok they're only on the web but it's a start. I'll update the list is I have any more published.

Brokeback on Ice!

A little bit more exciting than the actual film don't ya think..!

THE PANTS AWARD

I've decided to create a new type of blog, each time I come across something that really annoys me, I'm going to give it a PANTS AWARD!Watch out for these cropping up in my blog entries!

The delight of blogging...

...is never knowing if anyone is actually reading your blog. I received one of my first commements yesterday about my netsuke collection, the commentor gave me some very useful information about the material that two of my netsuke are made from, information which I did not know. Thank you JL!

This is one of the reasons I started a blog in the first place.

Blog Hack...

It's taken me since the new year to finally crack the code on this new template...I've finally been able to swap out the header title and decription and replace it with an image of my choice and making!

looking forward to 2007...

While at Ian's this weekend we discussed things we'd like to do this year; places to visit, things we'd like to achieve personally that kind of thing. We had a frank and open discussion about our relationship and we talked about the possibility that I might actually move in this year.

We talked for a while about how that would work, would I travel to Sheffield from Leeds everyday? Would I still in Penistone some nights? I also discussed with him the possibility of changing my job for one in Leeds and how that would work.

The only thing that is stopping me from becomming determined to do it this year, is that he's still so bloody house proud and still occasionally makes me feel as though I shouldn't be there.

I know it's because for years he lived in a place that wasn't his and that he didn't feel like he was in control...blah blah blah, but I'm not going to be treat the same as he was..and I think he now understands.

We agreed to discuss it again soon. We'll see.

Time to switch fragrances...

...a friend of mine has just emailed me with this advert for the new fragrance from Paco Rabanne "BlackXS".

Even if I don't like the new smell....I do like the advert!!

The 1st of 2007...

...quite literally.

Well the new year is here and it's time to set those new year resolutions...

...nah, I'd only break them anyway.

I got home about 5pm from Ian's this afternoon with all good intensions of getting most of my ironing done ready for work tomorrow, but I haven't even looked at it yet.

I've resisted the urge to stand on the bathroom scales to see how much weight I've put on over the Xmas period because I know It'll only depress me.

The first thing I did was to add my new music onto the laptop and check out what emails I've had, which wasn't interesting, just junk stuff as per usual.

I haven't even unpacked my bag yet...well I suppose I'd beter make a move as the clock downstairs has just chimed 7pm...which means I've now only 3 hours left to do my ironing...