Why do you ask?

Other person: Hey Cat, how are you? Long time no see!
Me: I good thanks. How are you?
Other person: Im fine.
Me: Thats great
Other person: See ya.
Me: See ya.

You ever get the feeling that when someone asks you how you are, that they really dont give a shit about the answer?

Can you imagine the look on their faces if you truly told them how youre feeling that day!

So why do they ask? Why you we ask?

I can honestly say that if I ask someone how they are then I am interested in the answer they give me. More often that not they will reply with the word "fine". If thats how they wanna answer the question then I guess thats fine.

Just once tho, I would love to answer them truthfully -

Im not good actually. I got mugged last week by a gang of drugged up five year olds. Then just yesterday my cat got run over by the icecream truck. Plus, I have an overwhelming suspicion that my boyfriend is having an affair with the guy who cleans the next door neighbours gutters.

Ok, none of that is truthful, but you get what I mean.

HD? Who cares?!

HD channel this, HD channel that... I am sick of hearing about HD. I have watched programmes on a friends HD tv and I cant see what all the fuss is about. Seriously!

Im sure there are many people who will disagree with me but you see, I come from a generation of kids who had indoor areials. We were just happy that we got any picture, never mind a crystal clear one!

My first TV was a black n white one with a dial to change the channels. My first colour set was given to me when I was about nine years old but this one had buttons. I mustve been in my late teens before I got a set with a remote. still remember the betamax video player my dad got where the remote was attached to it via a wire. I thought that was the dogs bollocks!!!

I constantly see commercials for HD channels and HD sets... What next? A HD microwave??? "The new Toshiba HD Microwave. Its like youre actually cooking food"

So this is why I will never get excited about HD and I will resist buying a set or subscribing to a HD channel for as long as I can. The history of man has been fraught with scams... analog to digital... the decimalization of Britain in 1971... theyre nothing more than money making schemes!

None of the above!

Brewsters Millions was one of my fave movies as a kid.

The general election in Britain will be on the 6th of May. As usual I am completely undecided about who to vote for.

At the moment we have a Labour government, who I have to say I have lost faith in over the years. I have always been a Labour voter but this year I will be defecting, possibly.

Ive always thought, since I was old enough to vote, that there should be a space on the ballot paper where you can make you feelings known... like the "None of the above" in Brewsters Millions. Just a small box at the bottom, where you can express that you wish to vote for no one because you are disatisfied.

Like I said, I have always voted labour but this past 4 years have gone from bad to worse. The first thing that really pissed me off was the fact that all of a sudden Tony Blair decides to step down and Gordon Brown takes over. Errr excuse me! We didnt vote you in, we voted your mate in! Apparetnly this was a deal struck by the pair of them many years ago.

Secondly, their immigration policy blows! We have more and more immigrants coming into the country which is absolutely fine by me, if they are bringing a skill or a trade with them and they work. If theyre coming to scrounge and get benefits then they should be kicked the fuck out! We already have a generation of wastes of space who were born here and who decide to sit on their arses all day and take out of the system. I live two streets away from a housing estate full of them. All they do is knock out a new kid every year, drink and cause trouble.

So that is the third reason why I wont vote for them again... giving ridiculous amounts of benefits to people who can work but choose not to. If you honestly cant work, coz of illness or if youre a single parent the I have no gripe with you. But dont try and tell me you cant work coz you have irritable bowel syndrome (I heard one guy say this in the street the other week) I wanted to beat him to death with a tree branch!

So yea, I am undecided who Im going to vote for. Is it a case of better the devil you know than the devil you dont???

just a quick one...

Wow, I really havent ranted for a while.

I doubt this is because I havent found anything in my life that has been rant-worthy. Ive just been busy with other things.

I guess this is more of a touch base blog than anything else.

Although now I come to think of it. I do have a rant! Go me!

Wednesday, as some of my friends will know, was my "me" day. This is the day that I dont get to take very often. It is the day when I go out and do things that I like. I guess some people call it a mental health day.

So this Wednesday gone, I decided to go do a bit of shopping and I also went to see a movie. As I dont drive, I had to take the bus. My partner drives, which means it has been a while since I have had to take a bus. Let me say, they have got worse, not better!!!

It took me one hour and forty-five minutes to travel less than twenty miles.

I know!

What a fucking palava it was. The first bus arrived after fifty minutes of waiting and told me that it didnt go as far as I needed. Which meant I had to get on another bus half way. Which of course, was late too!

By the time I got to the movie I was ready to come home.

Seriously, we are constantly badgered by the British government to use more public transport, to leave our cars at home. AND THEY WONDER WHY PEOPLE ARENT DOING IT? The transport system in this country fucking sucks!

My bus to take me home was late too. Luckily by this time my partner had finished work so I called him for a lift.

Fuck the ozone layer. Im never going on another bus again!

Out of the darkness

Vampires really have come into the light in recent years. Literally!

Like so many movies e.g. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings… Twilight is a movie which I have resisted seeing. In regards to Twilight I had a fear of the whole vampire lore being bastardized or “hollywooded up” It has been done so many times before with so many issues. Charmed was guilty of it with witchcraft. I think the closest interpretation of witchcraft was on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which I was a huge fan of.

The evolution of vampires, I guess, is inevitable. The vampire has come along way from cult classics The Lost Boys and Fright Night and after relenting and watching Twilight I am pleased to say that the humble vampire is still dead and well.

There are the purists out there that will scoff and stamp their feet at the very mention of Edward Cullen although I will say that Edward Cullen should be the last generation of the new age vamp. Where else could they possibly go with vampires without them losing their basic natures? True Blood is also an example, a brilliant example, of last chance saloon with the humble vampire. Integrating them into society is a noble and brilliant idea and works but where can you go from there?

Vampire with a soul has been done. Angel was the ultimate tortured monster and will always be in the top half of my 10 greatest vampires list. Joss Whedon is a genius and you could say the granddaddy of the modern day vampire.

Stefan and Damon are great characters and I like the Kane and Able aspect of The Vampire Diaries but as a show I’m finding it hard to get my teeth into. For me, it’s a little too much like 90210. Too many pretty people makes boring watching. The history of the Salvatore brothers is interesting and I’m hoping more will be done with it. Also the relationship between Stefan and Elena seems to have more going on when the cameras aren’t rolling. One minute they’re meeting and the next they’re in love and he’s walking away from her. Maybe Stefan isn’t enough of a monster for me but then again if he was, they wouldn’t need Damon!

As for vampires and humans together, well, who can get enough of the complexities of those relationships? I know I cant! I’m glad that we are now more than food to them. Sookie and Bill, Buffy and Angel, Mick and Beth are all relationships that left us hungry for the next instalment. Which reminds me, I was very sad when I heard the news that the second series of Moonlight was cancelled. Mick St John and Beth Turner were a delight to watch. It still puzzles me why it wasn’t more popular. Again another vampire show which brought vampire lore into the 21st century.

So back to dear old Edward and his family, which by the way I am loving. The idea of a vampire family makes me wanna be part of one. The scene in Twilight where they’re playing baseball is priceless. I am very glad that I watched it and have New Moon in my bag waiting to be watched. Long live the Cullen’s and long live my enjoyment of watching them.

I am no expert. I am a self confessed vampire groupie and fetishist and I know what I like. So as far as I’m concerned, the modern day vampire can bite me anytime!

Death and Taxes

I can understand why that dude flew his airplane into the IRS building in Texas. Really I can!

I wont go into details, if I can help it but have been waiting on a decision, a financial decision for some weeks now. I have been constantly jumping thro whatever hoops they have put infront of me. I have done everyhing they have asked to the point where I have had to reach into my pocket with no hope of reinbursment. Meeting after meeting... I even had a meeting today and as far I was concerned everyting was hunky dory.

Then I make a call to check some details today and I am told that the decision has not gone my way and I shouldve been informed by letter weeks ago.

WTFF ( thats abbreviation for what the fucking fuck? It isnt a typo)

Why the hell do we bother? WHY? Why do we try better ourselves? Why do we get good jobs that make us work all hours and put us into an early grave. What is the point? I can walk two streets away and find a housing estate full of people who choose not to work and knock out several kids and yet money is thrown at them. They come up with excuses why they cant or wont work but yet theyre living the life of riley and not contributing anything to society. All they do is take take take.

I choose to work, I choose to work hard but yet at every turn there is something to smack me in the face and make my life that little bit harder.

I am so mad. I am fuming. I am livid. I am ready to rip someones head off and shit down their throat!

All it is is taxes and bills and charges for this that and the other and the moment you are making a small amount of money they tax you at a higher rate so theres nothing left!


ARRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Your offense offends me!

Talking with some friends this morning about radio in general, someone made the valid point that one of the reasons why radio has become so bad is that too many people are complaining about the content of what is being broadcast.

I have to say that this is one of my pet peeves. I constantly hear and see people writing or emailing shows whether it be on the radio of television complaining that the content of the show was offensive, not suitable for children, they didnt like it blah blah blah.

Am I the one not getting this? If you see something on the televison or hear something on the radio that you dont like then switch it over. Dont watch it. Dont listen to it. No one is forcing you! There isnt a guy behind you with a gun pointing at your head, is there?

The problem with a few people complaining about something is that when the masses hear about it, then everyone and their dog begins to complain. We had a case of this recently here in the UK. Two radio hosts played a telephone prank on an actor which a few of their listeners found bad taste and they complained. Problem is, when it was leaked to the media everyone heard the replay of it and then called in to complain that they too found it offensive even tho they didnt hear it first hand. I think it went from 30 orginal complaints to 30,000 complaints. How ridiculous is that?

If the show is factually incorrect then yeah, contact them and tell them. If the show you are watching isnt suitable for children and it is before the 9pm watershed then yeah, feel free to write or email and give them a piece of your mind. If its just a case of youre offended by what youre watching or listening to then for god's sake shut the fuck up, switch it off and go read a book.

Who's living next to you?

I heard a radio ad yesterday asking people to keep an eye on their neighbours and if there acting suspiciously then urging you to call the terrorist helpline. Of course theyre not allowed to say "if youre neighbour is an arab and acting suspiciously" they just said neighbours. Hell if thats the case then I should call them about my whole bloody street. The criteria of "suspicious" behavior applies to all of us at some point in our lives.

Then this morning on the news, I hear that the detainees at guantanamo bay arent being treated very well but neither the British or American government want to admit to it. I have one thing to say on this matter SO FUCKING WHAT! These are people, that through intelligence, are being detained coz their actions have lead authorities to believe that they are terrorists or they are friends or part of a group with terrorists in them. I don’t care if theyre not being treated well. I don’t care if theyre torturing puppies infront of them to get them to talk. These people are animals. They take lives, lives of ordinary people who are just trying to live theirs. Why should we be nice to them? Why should we treat them fairly? As far as Im concerned they have no civil rights so don’t tell me that they should have them when they are trying or planning to murder people on a mass scale.

When it comes to these people we should go back to the medieval way of thinking… the bloodlust that was rampant through the masses back then should apply now. We should hang them publicly in the streets. We should be allowed to throw rotten fruit and stones at them. We should cheer when we see the last drop of life leave their bodies. Am I being excessive? I think not. Im sure there are liberal bunnies out there who will oppose my views but I wont apologize for my feelings. I will say it again… they are animals!

My motto in life has always been live and let live but when someone puts a rucksack on their back with a bomb in it or hijacks a plane with plans to crash it in a building with the intention of killing thousands of people it becomes personal and tolerance for these people should never come into the equation. So before you come spouting your human rights bullshit at me think about the horror of 9/11 or 7/7 ( to name two) if you can still tell me that terrorists or members of a terrorist group should be treated as human beings then youre no better than they are!

Legalized Vampires

"I havent come here to be insulted by a legalized vampire" - Tony Hancock

Today Im going to give blood. This is something that Ive been planning to do for years but somehow, never got round to it. Im kinda embarrassed that I havent been to do it before when I couldve but hell, Im doing it now.

Blood donation in England is at an all time low and they need more donors than ever. I think we live in a generation of people who are either lazy or selfish. Everyone should be doing this (every one who can at least) It should be law that you have to give blood at least twice a year.

The blood donation wasnt the thing I was interested in as such but I would like to be a bone marrow donor but you cant do one without the other so here I am... a body full of good blood and raring to go.

Yeah it is a bit of a pain that I have to go to the next town over to give it but hell, its an hour out of my time every 4 months. What would I be doing with that hour if I wasnt giving some of the red stuff? On facebook, watching tv, reading? I think thats an hour I can definitely spare.

Ive always carried an organ donation card. My dad drilled it into me at a young age on how important it was to carry a card incase something happened. This again is something I think should be made law. Everyone should have to carry an organ donation card or be on the registry. They ask that you make sure your family knows of your wishes in the event of your death but again, I dont think it should be a decision your family can overide. I mean what the hell do you need your heart for, or your lungs or your eyes once youre dead?

I think everyone has a wish to be remembered after theyre gone. I dont think anyone likes the idea of not leaving some kind of legacy behind. We all want to know that we counted, that we mattered once we've shed this mortal coil. For me, at this moment in my life, this is my legacy and Im proud to leave it.

What will you leave behind?

When it rains, it pours!

Im angry. Im mad. Im pissed. Seriously. I have recently found out that another photography studio in my area has taken one of my ideas and run with it. Theyre even advertising it with girls that have been to one of the events I organized.

I was an idea that I couldn’t possibly patent so there was always a chance that someone would get wind of it and do it themselves but now it as actually happened Im mad. Really fucking mad.

I no longer have my photography studio which is, I guess, the underlying reason why I am so pissed off. Due to rising rent prices, an argument with my landlord about rain (long story. I shall explain), the beginning of a relentless recession and the tight fisted joe public who always want something for nothing, I closed my doors of the studio and went freelance once again. Im still doing weddings which are the bane of my existence but at least Im still behind the camera now and again. I miss my studio so much even though the roof leaked and it was freezing in winter, I miss the freedom and the creativity it gave me.

The argument with the landlord was because the roof was leaking. He refused to fix it saying and I quote “it only leaks when it rains one kind of rain”. See now please excuse me for my ignorance but I thought that there was only one type of rain. I thought rain just fell from the sky and got you wet but apparently there is more than one type and one of those types caused the roof to leak. Go figure! So because of this, when my lease ended, rather than renewing it and getting into the battle of the rain once again, I walked away, almost dry and with £10 000 worth of camera equipment that is now in storage (well most of it)

The announcement of a recession didn’t help. People did tighten their belts and we got less calls from people wanting me to do pictures in the studio. No point in having one when Im doing pictures out of it right? The people who were coming through the door became increasingly frustrating wanting ridiculous discounts, free prints and generally got on my nerves. I constantly found myself wanting to scream at them “ Im a business not a fucking charity”. I am a good photographer, scrap that, Im an excellent photographer and I do not rip people off. Maybe that’s why the studio on its own didn’t survive. One nationwide studio charges ridiculous prices for their photography and Im constantly hearing horror stories about what theyre asking for framed prints, so much so that I made a promise to myself and my customers when I opened my studio that I wouldn’t rip them off and there would be no hard sell but maybe that’s where I went wrong.

Finding a new place for my studio has been hard. Rents are high and I cant justfy setting up somewhere new right now. I havent ruled out that one day I will find the perfect place but until then I remain studio-less and constantly getting flyers through my door advertising other studios who have now cottoned on to one of the services I offered. Even though I know its completely irrational, I just feel like Im having my nose rubbed in it.

You cant take it with you

If you buy into the whole "you go to heaven when you die" assuming that your spiritual being has no need for anything other than just "to exist" somewhere else...

What earthly pleasures will you miss??

I would miss 3 things and 3 things only.

1. Music

2. Food

3. Christmas

Thats it...no more, no less.

Prophets of Doom

We all love a good disaster movie. We love the chaos and destruction. Even world events keep us glued to the television incase we miss the next juicy instalment. Whether we admit it out loud or not we all like and we cant help looking at the car crash. I have to say that even listening to the traffic reports and the school closures on a snowy morning gives me a sense of excitement.



We had four weeks, almost non stop over Christmas, of snow warnings and even back then the prophets of doom in the streets were working overtime telling us there was much more to come. That we would get hit hard by bad snow in February. When I first heard them I wondered if they had a crystal ball or maybe they were having mass premonitions. After all if the weather men cant accurately predict the weather from week to week then how does the girl in the supermarket know whats gonna happen in February?

As it happens, both she and her doom and gloom friends were almost right. We have had bad weather this month. The claim has been made that its been the worst in 30 years. It hasn’t, however been as bad as anyone claimed it would be. At least not here in the UK.

I met another prophet today. One of my neighbours, who isn’t prone to screaming “the end of the world is nigh” at the first snowflake, kindly informed me today that over the next two days we would be hit by the worst snow we’ve had in 30 years. Is this just a giant game of Chinese whispers which Ive been dragged into. Where are these people hearing this?

I have to say that it is snowing now. Well, its sleeting. A kind of sloppy snow that as soon as you walk in it or touch, it melts. When you go outside in it you come back in drenched, like you’ve just been out in a rain storm. I am dubious. Without looking at a weather report I am gonna predict (and I do have a crystal ball on my mantle) that it will be sleet and nothing but sleet over the next two days and it will melt as soon as the sun comes out tomorrow.

Maybe I should buy some skis just to be safe.

Throw away your television

My television screen is constantly covered with people who are famous for, well, nothing. Oh wait, no. I tell a lie. The woman who is on it at the moment slept with a famous footballer. She is famous for spreading her legs. Big whoop!

Why are the talent-less constantly being paraded in front of us and the talented hidden from view? If I see one more bimbo on my television who is the sister of the neighbour of the guy who married the girl who slept with singer from the band who had the number one download last week, I might just have to throw it out of the window.

Im blaming reality TV on me dropping at least three IQ points. (That sentence lone has to prove my point) I will not lie, I have enjoyed at least four out of the ten years of Big Brother but please don’t get me started on the fame hungry morons that have appeared on that show. They come out of the house with more makeup on than you would find in Boots (this applies to the men too) They take their clothes off for some trashy magazine who pay them more for the pictures that most people earn in a year then we are bombarded with appearances on morning talk shows, kiss and tell stories in just as trashy newspapers and our airwaves are polluted with a feeble attempt at a number one song. Please save me from the wannabe celeb.

Celebrity. I hate that word. They used to be called “famous”. Now, to me, celebrity describes a person who isn’t very talented, who is on the television for doing something that would embarrass most normal parents. What annoys me more is that young girls an boys admire these people. They look up to them an aspire to be like them. What is frustrating still is that these same young teens will shout and swear and curse at their parents, neighbours and complete strangers in the street and wont show an ounce of respect for any authority but they worship and idolize these so called celebrities just because they’re skinny and blonde and shagged half of the England football team or theyre wearing more bling (another word I hate) than Mr T, have a different gorgeous but brain dead girl on their arm every week and are paid a ridiculous amount of money for kicking a leather ball around a field.

Football seems to be a recurring theme amongst the celeb folk who frequent my TV. They’re either married to a footballer or they’re shagging one and you know that in six months time they will be in the headlines telling us that Mr Footballer is bad in bed and/or has been cheating on them with another woman. You’d think they would learn from footballers wives/girlfriends past (or wags as they are referred to) I mean, it is a universal law that if you play for a large football team and youre earning £20,000+ a week that you are allowed to act like an asshole and cheat on your significant other. For some reason these girls choose to forget that law when they get a diamond ring on their left hand. Maybe all that hairspray and make up gives them temporary amnesia.

What is this world coming to?

so here we go...

I have had many blogs online. Live Journal, myspace, to name a couple. Ive also have another on here but for the life in me kind find it or remember the email addy for it. So here I go again... fresh blog, fresh start, fresh thoughts.