Category Archives: WBIAGW

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

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The Book Thief

HERE IS A SMALL FACT,

You are going to die.

I read a lot and I read anything, I’m not a snob when it comes to authors or genre. I’ll read anything recommended to me or anything I find whilst trawling book shops and charity shops. I dont usually blog about books, never have before but I think this deserves a mention.

“Liesel” a young girl is adopted by a German family during the second world war. There is Jew hidden in the basement, persecution in the streets and there is a coming of age as Liesel grows up in Nazi Germany with all the madness this entails. Liesel makes friends and forms relationships with the unlikeliest of characters and all the while with death breathing over her shoulder. This is her story;

I love this book. It’s not an happy book.  I dont think any book narrated by death could be, But there are some momenst that make you smile, some that make you laugh and some that in my case bought me to tears.It is so well written the characters stay with you long after the final page has been turned.

I recommend it to you all.

Happy New Year

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A belated start to my blogging this year – hopefully not a start as I mean to go on.

This is just a quick post to say 2009 is not the year I shall be allowing TBK to have a mullet hair cut* but is the year I shall be learning to use my new camera, exploring new ideas and trying to enjoy myself enormously.

Happy New Year to you all!

*The mullet cut is a whole conversation I don’t have time to blog about now but long story short he asked we addvised otherwise!

A thank you

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To the girl on the top deck of the 559 bus travelling from Wolverhampton towards Wednesfield at approximately 5:30pm last night.

I was the girl sitting in front of you wearing the black coat. You were the girl sitting behind me in the atrocious yellow jumper, purple skirt and black tight combination, complaining like an ungrateful bitch to the long suffering friend on the other end of your phone call,  that “like my mom and Dad have only got me a laptop for Christmas yeah, and I like sooo wanted a laptop last year but not now!!” and coughing every two minutes without a thought of placing at the very least your hand in front of you hole you were hacking out of.

Thank you,

Thank you for coughing down the back of my neck and sharing your germs. I really loved waking this morning with the start of a cough of my very own and a heavy head, It was so much fun to know that this festive season people were so into the whole sharing thing they’ve extended it to strangers on buses even if it wasn’t required or even really wanted.

I’m going to really enjoy spending the first Christmas in 5 years I’ll actually be at home with my son instead of stuck in work, feeling like shit, wrapped up with an hot water bottle and having to watch the festivities go on around me as the flu you shared has sapped me of all energy. Thanks a whole lot!

To anyone who knows this caring sharing person, The one with an annoying habit of holding conversations at the phone at the top of her voice over the phone while on the bus, please pass on my gratitude, and if you know her parents may I suggest that you go and offer them an alternative to the laptop they were going to buy for her that she blatantly isn’t bothered about getting …

…ask them to buy her some fucking tissues!!

Seasons Greetings Wolverhampton

Make a Promise : Deliver a Dream

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If someone offered you £4022 ($6000) worth of computer equipment what would you do with it? That’s what HP are offering, in conjunction with 50 bloggers from across the world in their Magic giveaway.

Yes. I am one of the 50.

Each blogger has been given $6000 (£4022) worth of HP equipment and they get to give it away to whomever they choose, and they get to set their own rules!

I first read about it over on Moosh in Indy who’s only stipulation to enter is “you have to share” and have since then been thinking what would I do with it? What would I do with all that “stuff”? Could I be selfless enough to give it all away, keeping nothing for myself?

As much as I’d like to think I could in this particular instance I know I couldn’t, I mean, Hey, how could I give the HP Photosmart C6380 All-in-One printer away after I’ve been coveting a new photo printer for months and then of course the HP 564 Photo Value Pack would have to stay with it.

Naturally I’d have to have something to process all those lovely photos on as my my desktop just about crashes every time I turn it on hanging 9 times out of 10 on the start up screen until I hit restart and begin all over again. Once it’s switched on it screams blue murder if I open anything intensive i.e photoshop and if I try to do something clever like, oh I dont know check my email and open a word document at the same time the computer says no and the whole thing freezes, so that’s why I’d keep this for myself too. The HP TouchSmart IQ816 PC.

But then what would I do with the rest of the booty? The HP HDX 18 series Premium Notebook PC, The • HP MediaSmart Connect, and the HP Pavilion dv4 series Entertainment Notebook PC (with Windows Live) oh and not forgetting the HP Mini 1000 (with XP) all loaded with either Windows Vista or XP depending on their spec.

Who would be deserving of it? Who would make the most of it? Was there anyone person that would benefit more than anyone else? Could I get away with keeping it all myself (only kidding as tempting as it may be).

I work for a non for profit organisation, could they make use of it?

I used to work for a Youth Club could they use?

My family and friends would they want it?

Of course they all would but none of these people NEEDED it. Work has, as hard as it is to come by sometimes, funding from different arts councils and organisations for IT equipment relevant to the different projects we run. The youth club has a computer suite for the young people to use, they may WANT upgrades but they don’t NEED them. Then my family and friends who I’m sure would all love me if I started handing out computers like Santa does presents at Christmas don’t really need them either, they’ve all in some capacity have computers which are fit for purpose.

So I thought further, what would do if I received all that beautiful booty? I couldn’t decide and as the spirit of the giveaway was to share i thought about not entering.

Then I remembered, It IS nearly Christmas and the season of goodwill to all men and lets face it is all about the children. What if I could help children who really deserved the help and put a smile on someone face, someone who is facing hard times that I can only imagine as an adult, let alone face them as a child. And then I realised the answer was with me all along….

Promise Dreams, This local charity launched in 2001. They “raise money for children who are seriously or terminally ill and provide treatment, help and support for both them and their families. Whether the child would like a holiday, a toy, medical treatment or equipment, or even the chance to meet their favourite celebrity, Promise Dreams is dedicated and committed to help.”

The charity is run by 4 people in an office in Wolverhampton town centre and rely soley on fund raising and donations to help make these children’s worlds a nicer place. They hold events in the building I work in, so I have seen how much work they do and one of my friends sisters received a new motorized wheelchair through them so I’ve seen first hand what a difference it makes to the people they help.

Thats who the rest of the booty could go to, Someone I think truly deserving.

So now I’m cutting it fine, I have no idea when the deadline is in relation to where I am in the world, I just know its in the next day or two so I’m rushing to finish this post and get it in one time. Maybe It’ll be me that’s picked, maybe it wont but at least I tried!!

‘Tis the season to become obsessive compulsive.

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Christmas is once again upon us and amid the annual rush to the shops and the seasonal sense of having to enjoy yourself, a madness creeps upon me that I am desperately seeking a cure.

Mid November right through til mid December I become the worlds WORST obsessive compulsive. Christmas without fail brings out the perfectionist in me!

The tree has to go up at the first available opportunity in December – allowing for TBK feelings about having the tree up on his birthday which differs from year to year. Then the decorations HAVE to go on in order, lights first, then ribbons, pine cones, plain baubles, glitter baubles, and finally depending how I’m feeling either the star or the angel is sat on the top. We have one of each as I couldn’t make up my mind which I preferred so now every year I agonise over which one should go up as once the decision is made it has to stay that way! Everything has its “proper” place and I have redecorated whole trees if they don’t look just right.

James and TBK have learned not to be offended if they put something on the tree to later find it’s moved, after all there has to be and equal spread of decorations and colours or it wouldn’t look right! Right? At the same time as doing this I’ll also decorate the matching swag which sits on my fire surround in place of the family photographs which sit there for the rest of the year and all my candles etc get removed and replaced with nativity scenes, Santa Claus figurines and snowmen because Christmas supersedes EVERYTHING including family photos!

I wish it ended there but it gets worse…

I am relentless in my pursuit of the “perfect presents”, I beat myself up about them searching endlessly for just the right thing for each person. I make repeated lists of WHO to buy for, then other lists of WHAT I should buy. Then once a purchase has been made I spend hours deliberating whether I’ve made the right choice and “will they like it?”.  It takes James ages to talk me round but then once he’s finally convinced me that the gifts are fine and nobody really cares what they’ve receive, they have to be wrapped….

…For this I save a special kind of neurosis…

…All my presents have to be wrapped to a colour scheme – complimentary to, but different from that of my tree (which is gold and ivory) and it’s one scheme for the adults presents and one for the children’s but everything gets wrapped with matching ribbons and tags and if they aren’t wrapped just so they WILL be unwrapped to start all over again!!

Once finished they go under my tree and have to stay there unless I move them to put other presents people bring around behind them that don’t match my colour scheme!

My wrapping compulsion is such that two Christmases ago my manager at the time bought me all her Christmas gifts from home to wrap in work and it has been known for my sister to deliver her entire Christmas booty to my house complete with wrapping paper and sticky tape to wrap all her presents for her as “You’ll do a much better job than me”.

I’m such loser!

This Christmas I’m striving to be more relaxed and well, less anal about the whole thing.

The Christmas tree still went up the first chance I got (last night) but get this I let James choose whether the star or the angel went on the top, I let him hang some of the baubles AND I’ve left them where he put them(Kind of). I made a conscience desicion to buy wrapping paper so the adults and kids do NOT match and I haven’t finished putting all the decorations up, even though in previous years I’ve insisted i all go up in one night!

Now if you’ll excuse me as I have to go sit on my hands to stop me returning the lights I bought for the window that are just the wrong shade of white, adjusting those two red baubles which are much to close together (one should really be in the middle of those gold ones to distribute the colours) and moving Santa to the other side of the fireplace because he just looks so much better there….

We’re Home

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We’re back off holiday – Ok so we’ve been back for weeks and I have so much Tunisian goodness to share and I still have hundreds of photographs to process but I’ve had so much other stuff going on to get around to doing it ….

Since getting home Steve has had a birthday which resulted in a good night out, Sigur Ros played at the Civic Hall – which resulted in a good night out, Halloween happened, which resulted in a good night in, Bonfire Night happened, which resulted in a good night in somebody else’s house. Work has been hectic and home has been more so…

But I’ve still found time to have fun with TBK

It was the Flip Animation Festival last weekend and one of the workshops at the art gallery resulted in this, our first attempt at stop motion animation

15 mins work for a rather rough 9 second clip – but we’re proud of it!!


Stop Motion Animation by The Blonde Kid from James D Clarke on Vimeo.