30th April 2006:

Today is a lazy day where we are just pottering about and tidying things up and not really doing that much... Yesterday we went to Peckham library and also to WHSmith to get those concentina files - they are half price there at the moment...

The saga about changing medicines in April... I decided that I would stick to the one that I am on since it also stops me getting depressed... One of the side effects is weight gain but I have decided to live with it... am a bit fatter but not quite voluptuous... Also, my cholesterol level was higher but we are checking that regularly and it seems to be average high at the moment... - Hence why i keep eating oats and oat bars... Also, this medicine knocks the tops off the highs aswell - and so I am not so manic up in the middle of the night busily working on 'ideas' that I am thinking about... :-|

 

Queen Anne Hotel at night.

... I couldn't deal with the demons in my head - that was the real reason I didn't do as well as I should have in university... :-(

29th April 2006:

Emotions are getting confused... I feel like bawling my eyes out - because they are constantly watering and also making me have a runny blocked nose... it's all so over whelming and I should just cry and get it out of my system... - actually that might be what my body is urging me to do - in order to flush out the toxins that are contaminating my eyes at the moment...

This weekend we hope to relax and not do too much...

28th April 2006:

These past few days, I have actually been suffering from conjunctivitis... The anti-bacterial eye drops from the chemist are only just starting to have an effect... I hope by Tuesday that things will all be better...

Alessi goods in the display cabinet at the Queen Anne Hotel in Brussels...

27th April 2006:

I've just had an idea - I am going to show my photos collection interspersed within my webdiary entries... Also, it would be refreshing and inject a different dimension into the webdiary...

26th April 2006:

I went to see Alain de Botton give a lecture at the RIBA last night... It was very interesting... He was suggesting that even the Modernists who wanted to do away with ornamentation - which they regarded as frivolous/ superfluous... well, deep down inside, their "form-follows-function" buildings might actually not just be about expressing pure function but are put together in a certain way to convey "beauty" - a certain aesthetic, - just like the role that ornamentation played in the past eras... There might have been opposing styles throughout the centuries but the aim was the same: to create something that was beautiful...

He also talked about "what is beauty?/ What makes a beautiful building?" - perhaps it is something that fulfills our inner needs... Food for our souls(?)...

It's now 11.45am... I am going to have lunch and then off to work - I also took this morning off - to recover from the wedding we went to at the weekend and also now it has been good to stay in because I have a very bad cold... - but today I think it is past the worst... am quite looking forward to going in to work to see what has happenned since Thursday...

24th April 2006:

Am just getting over the worst of this cold that I have acquired over the past few days...
However, the internet isn't working at Jim's and also I am feeling a bit stupid and haven't managed to find the Word equivalent in OpenOffice – am writing this in the excel sheet equivalent...ctrl+return makes it possible for you to keep writing paragraphs within the same cell...

It is now 3.30pm... Am just feeling hungry now and so eating that bowl of cereal that I made at 11am but decided that I couldn't eat it then... Mmmm... stodgy muesli – yum, yum... Been in bed watching TV – had planned to go out today and enjoy my day off – also to go shopping to get some stuff – but decided against it – think I had a temperature earlier because opened the window really wide and still didn't feel the cold – wow the day is brightening up... feel all puffy... nose is not so blocked up – my eyes have stopped running...

Am listening to Pink – hoping to perk myself up... Jim is going to be not impressed since I am using an excel sheet to write my webdiary – just cannot think at the moment... sure the answer is there somewhere but can't see it at moment... also, actually might feel up to it to think about what to get for dinner tonight...

The wedding was really good... i thought I might try to hide in the corner in the shadows which I did sort of but then I also spoke a bit to people... Jim said he felt like he had to socialise so I let him catch up with his aunts and uncles... then I found he did it in a methodical way/ doing the rounds and then he retired to quiet corner also...

Ok – have to think about what to eat this evening – probably something easy – actually jacket potatoes sounds good... since filling and good for you and not too much hard work to prepare – we get tins of coronation tuna from weightwatchers – ready made to spread on top of them...

Was meant to do some gardening today also – the courgettes that we started need potting up.... also the other flowers seeds have started coming up....

19th April 2006:

Have to do some ironing this evening and also clear out the boot of my car...

18th April 2006:

Am really tired today... Got to get organised for some things...

Shame... I fell over end of last summer and now my knee has a scar on it... but strangely, it is indented and looks very weird... wonder if the people at the wedding will notice and point and whisper...

16th April 2006:

Today we walked back through to Peckham and found my umbrella casing that I dropped yesterday while in the rain... We still need to go back to WHSmith's there and buy Jim a concertina filing folder... It rained heavily on our way back yesterday... We live in East Dulwich...

Today was nice and sunny... We will have noodles with peppers for dinner tonight... I planted in seed pots some flowers for the summer... hope they will catch up since started them off late...

I've discovered Backpack and Basecamp... and so have made lists of things to do there... A page for 'Days Out', 'Cookery Recipes', 'Things to Buy', 'Our Home', 'Books to read', 'Films to See', etc... it's all very organised... I had started using draft google emails to keep a list that I update of galleries and exhibitions to see... and then I transfered it into a list on BackPack...:

It is now 3.15pm... I think I will read some newspapers...

12th April 2006:

Falun Gong
On 9 March 2006, allegations were made of deaths at the Sujiatun detention compound - wikipaedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong

Falun Gong Practitioners' Organs Harvested at Secret Sujiatun Concentration Camp in Shenyang City
Most prisons and labor camps have detainees going in and coming out, so they will eventually bring out information about the camp. However no one has ever come out of the Sujiatun Concentration Camp. The Falun Gong practitioners are killed for their organs in this concentration camp, and their body cremated in the camp. Their organs are then sent to various medical facilities. Organ selling is a very profitable business in China. (-extract taken from http://falunhr.org/ )

11th April 2006:

It's been raining all day today... I have opened my mini cash ISA for this year... :-)

10th April 2006:

It's looking really sunny today :-) I have to go down town to pick up some photos at lunch... just wondering to think what to do down there... could pop into the bookshop... or I could buy that mushroom growing kit from Woolworth's... or decide on some nice flowers to grow... hmmm...

... just been onto wikipaedia and read stuff about Nestle - Jim is always saying how bad they are... and it sounds like they are - after what I have read... it might be the way in how their company is structured... a lot of cover up and panic when things go wrong? and the wrong people advise? - or are they really out to just make big bucks like with baby powder milk in the Developing World countries when mother's milk is best, mineral water that is just tap water with minerals added, pet food that was manufactured poorly that killed pets in Venezuela, trying to make Ethopian government pay more for a failing investment they had in the country... - not accepting the $1.5 million...

I just read on the Independent online that Gordon Brown is proposing to make it possible for every child in the world to go to school... I found it very emotional and tears welled up in my eyes...

9th April 2006:

Just made cannelloni with Jim - we are waiting for it to cook in the oven now... It is 5.05pm... I leave at 6pm to drive back out to Hertfordshire... It was kind of soothing making the cannelloni... restful almost...

This week I hope to get a lot done... then it is Easter... I will be spending it down at Jim's... We haven't really planned anything... maybe another 2 galleries to do... hmmm...

The Estorick collection and perhaps the Albers and Moholy-Nagy... at the Tate Modern... - if the weather is sunny and nice...

7th April 2006:

Got a dilemma... just got given lots of work to do - but I found interesting articles on the internet... Want to read up but am going to do a prolonged bash at the room layout drawings I have to do this afternoon... though have 15 minutes left of my lunch hour... though I like to get going with work towards the end of it...

It is now 3.45pm... I have cleared a lot of things... just thinking about planning for the weekend now...

Here is a email to a friend - I am so lazy... :

Hi Christina,

Are you still in the library? I've got a lull period where I am just plotting off some of my drawings... It's now 3.45pm... I feel much better today... The sun is just about to come out...

I just got one more drawing to do at the moment... I will probably make myself a hot chocolate in a minute... Am looking forward to the end of the working day when I can drive down to visit Jim :-)

Wow... now it is 4.15pm... I just made the hot chocolate... My plans for the weekend are on Sat Jim & I are going to see the China exhibition at the Royal Academy and then the Serpentine Gallery to see the Ellsworth Kelly exhibition... we also plan to veg out and also do the gardening... going to sow some leeks and courgettes... haven't been to the Serpentine gallery before - hopefully it should be good - it is set in the Kensington Gardens and near the Diana memorial...

bye for now,

Annie

5th April 2006:

The aim for the day today is to go down town at lunchtime and pick up a prescription and also go to the Oxfam bookshop to see if I can pick up a Rhode travel guide :-) ... done both... got the book on Rhodes for £2.50 :-)

4th April 2006:

It's evening time... at 7.45pm... I could go for a long soak in the bath but can't because other people in the house and I would use up all the hot water... Could read a bit more of the ayn rand book... it is 7.45pm... I want to do more on the photo page but can't - have to use the programme at work to resize the images...

What else can I do this evening? am quite tired... will perhaps get ready for bed...

3rd April 2006:

I am going to start a photo page off the main menu on the lhs... I think... given up on Fotki and Flickr...

2nd April 2006:

Am not sure if I like deconstructivism... at first, at university I really disliked it... now it is growing on me... some of it adds a sparkle into the air... some things grow on you... as I have more points of reference back to deconstructivist stuff now... - be careful, I might soon find beauty in a really ugly building... it's all about seeing things in a certain way...

1st April 2006:

Looking through the Information in the Independent on Saturday... I came across The Estorick Collection - Morandi's Legacy - it looked really interesting and in tune with things that I am about... :-) Jim & I will probably go and see the exhibition - it will be a new gallery place which we have not yet been to...