Diary of a Suburban Squeen

1. More stuff added to the CBB Raffle, which is a Girlsown-themed charity raffle in aid of the British Red Cross Australian bush fires appeal. Again, if anyone can think of anyone who would be interested, please do let them know. PIMP, PEOPLE! PIMP FOR ALL YOU'RE WORTH! IT'S FOR CHARITY!!

2. Gather planning is going well (!!), which probably only means that it'll be disastrous come the weekend. Tant pis.

3. Speaking of, my darling weird_bird, any chance you could pick me up on Friday morning, as I will have way, way too much stuff to get to yours with?

4. Oh Merlin. Bless you, my tiny, tiny new fandom. I just want to cross you with everything!! Having done so with Stargate: Atlantis (oh, and that was supposed to be a one-off, except clearly Camelot is backwater planet in the Pegasus galaxy, how could it be anything else and I've had more ideas which I will probably never write), I am now horribly drawn to the tale of Sir Edmund of Blackadder, and his useless squire, Percy, fourth son of the Earl of Northumberland (and the dogsbody Baldrick), and how he tries to avoid all Uther's blithe assumptions that he will, of course, be desperately eager to help Prince Arthur battle all sort of terrible beasts...

5. Went to Lesbian Tea yesterday chez balooky in aid of Iranian lesbians, and had a marvellous time with Helen, katherinea, kathrynw and dozydormouse. We went on a little adventure to look at tiles and then Explored (and discovered many wondrous things, including a squirrel, a cat, some balloons, and a diseased mattress. Fun times.

6. Cookery Book: Be-Ro Recipes
Provenance: Bought off the interwebs to replace my aged, aged family one
Picture Level: Pictures for everything. Bien joué, Be-Ro...

Recipe: Upside Down Peach and Butterscotch Pudding
Ingredients: Marge, flour, eggs, peaches, caster sugar, soft brown sugar
Why Chosen: I was browsing and indecisive and it looked easy.
Outcome: Actually, not too bad. It has the air of the random 70s pudding, but still tasty nonetheless.
Mess Created: Not too much. Sort of tidied after myself. Woo.

1. I actually spent time talking about Hollyoaks at work. Last night I was forced (well, I say forced: more in the region of “Oh, don’t tell your father/grandfather/uncle what I just did… Oh, Martin/Brian/Miles, you’ll never guess what I just did!”) to tell Katie that I had even had the thought of Hollyoaks fic pass through my brain (it will never happen, I promise).

2. Tonight, we have no Guides, on account of half-term. Much as I enjoy Guides, this is a cause for joy. I shall go home, put some laundry on (for I have no clothes), watch the first ever ep of Life on Mars as what I got on a free DVD, and possibly some Torchwood, in an attempt to feel happier about writing Torchwood fic. I will not watch Jericho or Heroes, as tempted as I may feel, because (a) that would be naughty and (b) it would not be as much fun as watching it with Katie.

3. I thought I might have ticket woe today, but it turns out my travelcard is valid for one day longer than I thought. I am genuinely perplexed as to how this came to pass.

4. Question: Has anyone else ever leapt about in a fandom where they’ve never actually read/seen the original? I don’t mean like reading Highlander crossover fics, because that concept has been used in Every Fandom Ever, but like full on fandomming? I have read loads of Sentinel fic, actively sought it out, even though I hadn’t seen any of it until not long ago, and then only a couple of eps. Is this strange, or have other people had similar experiences?

5. _mardybum_ is so evil it defies description. You’ve got to love her. *g*

6. Did actually have some Guiding love today, on reading the magazine. Apparently International Women’s Day is coming up on the left, and the Activate section was full of activities to do on the theme of women and women’s rights etc. I just love belonging to an organisation that provides that sort of thing for girls and young women. Quote of the magazine: “Boys were invented to play football and watch TV.”

7. (i) *Therese Raquin – NT*
We saw this last month, and I have not yet written about it. It was good; the acting was excellent, likewise the set. The stifling, monotonous atmosphere was well portrayed. I loved the creepiness of the stroke-afflicted mother-in-law. But blimey it was melodramatic. All that tossing and turning in the second half when they were coming to terms with what Laurent had done – it was a bit overdone, I thought, and rather ruined the atmosphere. It was funny in parts, as well, with the two bods from their town – it helped emphasise the rut the characters were in, the way their lives were just on a repeat button.

(ii) *There Came A Gypsy Riding – Almeida*
Saw this last night. Again, I think it was a new play.* A family in Ireland goes to stay at their holiday cottage to ‘celebrate’ what would have been the younger son’s 21st birthday, except he killed himself two years ago. The play was about how the family dealt with their grief etc, and the first half was generally good. Eileen Aitkens may have had a dodgy accent (more Cold Comfort Farm than Irish), but as the older, barking mad cousin Bridget “more of a confused fairy”, she was very funny, and in the first half I liked Imelda Staunton’s Margaret (the mother) – partly, I will admit, because her entrance involved a pile of tea towels. It’s clearly a theme. Katie and I chuckled. Quietly, obviously. But, yes, the second half went a bit wrong. Bridget suddenly presented the suicide note that Gene had left, and Margaret went a bit mad and started banging on about him cursing them all. Very unsettling, not very convincing. It was like the current grief-fest in Hollyoaks, except more Irish. It got back on track later, but I think the emotional outpourings and rampant looniness halfway through spoiled it for me.


*Not that I think Therese was a new play; but the last thing we saw at the Almeida was, je pense.