My Mind Is Not Dead

Ooh yeah!

Fri, 17 May 2013 02:50:16 +0100

Ooh yeah!

Gonna give this badboy a go, now I’m here in Mexico! This...

Sun, 05 May 2013 19:53:41 +0100

Gonna give this badboy a go, now I’m here in Mexico! This mother is the thickest and most falling-apart book that I have ever laid my hands on.

I’ve read two books since I got here, on my Kindle: De Profundis by Oscar Wilde and The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.

De Profundis, like everything else by Oscar that I have read, is beautiful and worth taking the time to read. He always is and always will be. His words, phrases, poetic metaphors, will forever have meaning.

I heard about The Last Lecture after seeing that one of my good friends had read it on Goodreads. It sounded interesting, and it goes without saying that I have the utmost sympathy for anyone who goes through having cancer, and the idea of the book sounded lovely. However, I found the book profoundly annoying, poorly written, and the writers voice was sadly, very superior and holier than thou. Sorry Randy, RIP.

yahel: by yayitscarolyn

Sun, 05 May 2013 19:18:10 +0100

yahel:

by yayitscarolyn

"I hope to be at least a month with my friends, and to gain peace and balance, and a less troubled..."

Sun, 05 May 2013 01:29:30 +0100

“I hope to be at least a month with my friends, and to gain peace and balance, and a less troubled heart, and a sweeter mood. I have a strange longing for the great simple primeval things, such as the sea, to me no less of a mother than the Earth. It seems to me that we all look at Nature too much, and live with her too little.”

- Oscar Wilde ~ De Profundis

One of the last books I finished. It is pure magic. I will love Oscar Wilde forever.

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Sun, 05 May 2013 01:20:24 +0100

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Fri, 03 May 2013 16:11:59 +0100

ancientart: A pectoral with three scarab beetles clasped to a...

Fri, 03 May 2013 06:04:58 +0100

ancientart:

A pectoral with three scarab beetles clasped to a necklace (partly shown) which was discovered from the intact KV62 tomb of Tutankhamun. This jewellry depicts Scrab Beetles or Khepri, pushing the sun. It is one of the treasures found from Tutankhamun’s tomb who ruled during the 18th dynasty of Egypt’s New Kingdom.

Photo taken by Dmitry Denisenkov at the Tutankhamun: The Golden King and Great Pharaohs exhibit. Courtesy the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

rollingmaul: #onemoreyear THIS ^^^

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 03:08:56 +0100

rollingmaul:

#onemoreyear

THIS ^^^

Down in Mexico

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 22:30:06 +0100

For anyone who may be interested!

I have started a separate blog, which will chronicle my time here in Mexico. I’ll still be doing random little things on here though! :)

Abajo en Mexico

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Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:47:52 +0100

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Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:38:07 +0100

I’m trying to read as many books as I can before I go to...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:28:23 +0100

I’m trying to read as many books as I can before I go to Mexico, on the 18th of April. The thought that all my books need to be boxed up and I don’t know when I’ll see them again makes me sad! I’ve been thinking of bringing a few books with me, but I’ll otherwise be reading on my kindle.

I have decided to start reading Mornings in Mexico by DH Lawrence to get me imagining how Mexico may be, or might have been.

I really liked Lord of the Flies, much more than I anticipated. It’s brutally sad in places, as I’m sure many of you are aware. It is also intelligent and has a good variety of characters and personalities, giving you an insight into how unpredictable human beings are. Poor boys.

I am unemployed now and I barely noticed Time

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 02:34:00 +0100

I spent my first few days as an ex-library assistant up in Manchester with my sister. It’ll be the last chance I see her before I head to Mexico. This is what we got up to!

We ate a lot of chocolate, had a baby joint whilst listening to part one of a David Bowie interview on the radio (it was jokes), then we flopped into the living room where I did this:

The next day, I had a big fat lie in until about 11am. I cleaned my sisters shameful kitchen, we did lunch, and went to the Lowry exhibition which was lovely. I’m glad that there is a 20 minute film to watch about LS Lowry before you head in. I was quite touched by the kind of person he seemed to be. Walking onwards we found a Mary McCartney exhibition, which was seriously not interesting (sorry girl, but pictures of celebrity friends aren’t that great). We blitzed it over to the Imperial War Museum, bush bash bosh, then we were on a bus to the almighty TRAFFORD CENTRE. It reminded me of being in Russia.

WTF.

I experienced nothing but bewilderment walking around this place. This where people go to shop. Argh. Luckily, we were there to use the cinema, where I saw Les Misérables again (most beautiful film ever and I love Hugh Jackman!), and paid for my sister so that I know she had seen it before she died.

Today, I lay in bed with Snowy (the cat) of Salford for a while.

Then I walked into town to meet my sister where she showed me the John Ryland Library. So beautiful.

She also took me to the Public Library which is just down the road. You can’t keep me away from any library for long…

It’s half 2 in the morning and I just needed to unwind after having my train delayed, and I got home only an hour ago! And guess what, it doesn’t even matter, I don’t have to get up for work anymore!

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 20:31:17 +0100

Last day at the library today. Pint!

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 17:57:45 +0000

Last day at the library today. Pint!

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Sat, 30 Mar 2013 07:29:04 +0000

Here I am with 5 other people who will be leaving Lambeth...

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:39:00 +0000

Here I am with 5 other people who will be leaving Lambeth Libraries. My last day is tomorrow, and my big hoo-haa will be next Saturday, where I’ll be drunk, emotional and messy. Last night was really the leaving do for the four people to my left, but they were all standing up at the front making speeches and finally I was called out of the crowd to make a speech too (even though it was not my sending off party). This photo was taken after I made my train wreck of a speech, during which my stomach dropped and I thought I was going to die of stage fright. We all managed to get out alive!

I took the opportunity of voluntary redundancy a month or so ago. It came at a time when all sorts of situations at work were just getting worse and worse. I despair for the future of libraries and for the future of the public. I work for one of the poorest parts of London, and I see everyday how essential a library is. Some could say that I’m running away from it all, but I’ve been committed to libraries for a very long time. I believe in everything a library stands for and represents. But I needed to take the opportunity when it was presented to me: my sister has been in Mexico since last October, and I’m gonna go and join her. I miss her, and I’m in desperate need of an adventure.

But in the end, I know that in every fibre of my being, that my future will always be in the world of books and reading.

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Fri, 29 Mar 2013 11:28:56 +0000

GO ON MY SON!

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 11:02:12 +0000

Rogers has become only the second gay footballer in Britain to come out in public. Justin Fashanu, his solitary predecessor, hanged himself in 1998 in Shoreditch, just a short walk from where Rogers now lives.

Admittedly, I’d never heard of this guy until I just read the article over my breakfast. I don’t follow football at all.
What a lovely guy, I feel chuffed for him. Excellent story. RIP Justin Fashanu.

"How she might have felt had there been no Captain Wentworth in the case, was not worth enquiry; for..."

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 08:05:16 +0000

“How she might have felt had there been no Captain Wentworth in the case, was not worth enquiry; for there was a Captain Wentworth; and be the conclusion of the present suspense good or bad, her affection would be his for ever.”

- Jane Austen ~ Persuasion