Grace Notes @ Snarkattack

Everyone has them, they even have a mag about it, generally speaking.

Damn it: just about to list them but really need to take my meds. F-ing meds.

Yes, misspelling of the category this entry is housed under is deliberate and in honour of my cousin Dennis in Tooting, London. His childhood box of miscellaneous things, labelled ‘different tings’. Plus, ‘tings’ rhymes with ‘pings’ so it seemed fitting.

Christmas is over. For another year, thank God.

But I have beef with Jimmy the Elf, c/o Canada Post. He still hasn’t given me the reply I was promised!

You better be bloody sure I’ll write back next year, with a demand for Jimmy’s resignation. But I’m not the only person who thinks Christmas is…not so crash-hot, apparently so does this person here.

Just New Year’s Eve to survive now. Largactil and brandy, or all-night Diablo II? Or even Guitar Wolf at the Tote? Sorry, yes Snarkattack is on hols but…my snark brain isn’t.

Last night, I saw 2 films on cable, I, Robot and King Arthur: Director’s Cut. I’d really like to read the book that the first one was based on; Will Smith as a paranoid detective didn’t really cut for me (don’t worry dude, we all loved you in Fresh Prince…).
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So apparently having a (miniature and re-) breakdown has its good points. Christmas was oh-so relaxed this year. No, really. My parents were pretty nice to me and made sure I didn’t go all nuts with anxiety. Bizarre.

What I got so far:

a brand new laptop, though apparently also to celebrate my graduation & birthday (next year in March)

a new drug, a mood stabiliser
box of Lindt Mint chocolate balls
some very thoughtful cards from far-away friends, and family

The gifts I ordered for others haven’t yet arrived (!), one of which should have. Quite disappointed by that.

Being mentally ill is like being very, very drunk for an extended period of time. Any stupid done during that time must therefore be forgiven/excused.

Damn it, forgot my other good one.

edit

Remembered it!

Nervousness is good for something, keeps you nice and thin.

I was reading a few poems from the Yeats volume I have, mentioned here and was struck by the notion that Irish mythology, or perhaps Yeats’ retelling of it, is raunchier than an episode of The Bold and the Beautiful and the like. Bloody hell! Where to begin???
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I have a couple of pals who are quite the fragrance nuts, and it’s an addiction I’m desperately doing everything to discourage. There are 2 I’ve been very constant about lusting after - Serge Lutens’ Un Lys, and Miller Harris’ Fleur orientale. Sex with the orgasm in liquid form.

I seem to have a lot of official samples hanging around, so thought I’d test one today, by Clarins called Par amour toujours EDT (eau de toilette). It’s sort of a companion to their Par amour EDP (eau de parfum, higher concentration of fragrance oil than EDT). Floral and fruity is their description of the EDT…had me a bit scared. But it’s actually quite nice - got the balance just right (usually hate fruity).

Will post the actual scent notes later. Too lazy to get up and find the card.

Here we go: rosebud, pink peppercorns and blackcurrant, pink grapefruit and raspberry.

I think the snark in me is officially on holidays…or currently too sick to write anything of true substance (or even to attempt to).

Managed to read, gee, all of…2 poems by Chatterton? The one I liked the most was the one ‘dedicated’ to Horace Walpole, author of the famous (and lengthy) Gothic classic The Castle of Otranto. I think I have one friend who has read the whole thing!

Chatterton didn’t like Walpole because when he sent his ‘medieval’ Rowley poems to Walpole for evaluation or whatever, Walpole was the one who raised the ‘fraudulent’ alarm. Chatterton has a little note at the end of the poem to claim that his sister persuaded him to not send it to Walpole as intended.

Shame - imagine the ruckus it would have created! Chuckle.

I very rarely read the newspaper, let alone the business section of it but it was lying on a chair and so I decided to flip through it because I saw an article about the booming business of skin lightening creams in India.
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It’s out of print and whilst chatting (about a Wyatt piece I wrote!) to one of my mentors, the subject of Thomas Chatterton came up.Very highly regarded by the English Romantic poets, Chatterton is thought to be the first true Romantic poet. He was an interesting character - wrote poems in a medieval style, and passed them off as someone else’s and yet thought to be quite simple till about the age of 6. At 17, he committed suicide, not being able to maintain the lifestyle he enjoyed, in his London apartment.
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Saturday 8th October, 2005

Reading: Sallie Muirden, Revelations of a Spanish Infanta.
E-mails newly received: 3
Persons spoken to on phone: 2?
Mood: disorganised
Used: MAC lipglass in Pink Grapefruit

Sunday 9th October, 2005

No reading, writing, e-mailing etc. Spent most of the day trying desperately to play Renaissance consort music.

Mood: calm (because of the downers I took before to get rid of the shakes), musical, mentally challenged (amazing how one can forget the ability to count when one is nervous. Groan)
Used: MAC Pink Grapefruit lipglass again.

Wednesday 5th October, 2005

No reading, too busy writing!
E-mails newly received: 2
Persons spoken to on phone: 2
Mood: quietly, healthily productive
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Saturday 1st October, 2005

Poe, ‘The Mystery of Marie Roget’ (it’s long, and full of grisly details about corpses so hard to read in one sitting; still labouring on…)
Philosophy Amazing Grace 3-in-1 & hair conditioner
Lush Skin Sin lotion
Aesop cleanser, toner & moisturiser
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Wednesday 28th September, 2005
Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey (it’s hilarious)
MD Formulations total protector moisturiser spf30 (thought it was going to be a warm, sunny day. Not so. Everyone wears moisturiser with sun protection in Australia because the sun is so damn nasty thanks to the thinning of the ozone layer)
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Monday 26th September, 2005
Lush Dreamwash shower cream
Neutrogena sesame body oil
Aesop fabulous face cleanser
MAC lipstick in Entwined and lipliner in Test Pattern
Serge Lutens Bois de Violette EDP
Edgar Allan Poe, ‘The Man of the Crowd’
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Friday 23rd September, 2005
Korres milk proteins cleanser
Stila retexturising face scrub
Aesop parsley seed antioxidant facial toner
Aesop parsley seed eye serum
Aesop primrose facial hydrating cream
Lush coconut and almond smoothie
Little Shop of Beauty chocolate chip sugar scrub for body (I swear this stuff is edible)
Joey New York coconut oil body moisturiser
Guerlain Vol de Nuit EDT
Andrew Motion, Wainewright the Poisoner
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…is tearing and gnashing at your mental health, here are some lines I made up myself that attempt to make light of the situation. My good friends will most likely have heard me slip them into conversation.

Remember, it’s all in the delivery. Dry, a bit drawn out. Sarcastic, think Noel Coward (or Blackadder).

Oh darling, nervous breakdowns are ever so inconvenient.

Hmph! S/he had a nervous breakdown? Oh, how retro! (can also be delivered in a Valley girl accent)

Yes, I may have excellent clear skin, but appalling mental health.

It takes talent, to be this messed up.

Merci de M D. Piecoup pour cette citation sublime sur l’art de poesie:

Thanks to Mr D. Piecoup for this inspiring passage on the poetic art:

“In spite of difference of soil and climate, of
language and manners, of laws and customs,
in spite of things silently gone out of mind and things violently
destroyed, the Poet binds together by passion and
knowledge the vast empire of human society, as it is
spread over the whole earth, and over all time. The
objects of the Poet’s thoughts are every where; though
the eyes and senses of man are, it is true, his
favorite guides, yet he will follow wheresoever he can
find an atmosphere of sensation in which to move his
wings. Poetry is the first and last of all
knowledge–it is as immortal as the heart of man.”

-William Wordsworth

I said it to my mentor the other day; poets are like flute-players are like rabbits. Just too many of them in existence. Groan.

Australia Post must be working hardcore overtime! I got a beauty products order on a Sunday - Christmas presents for some people (I confess: 2 things for me, but one was on sale, and I needed shampoo).

Had quite the crap weekend; my mood has dropped so low. All I seem to do is sleep to avoid feeling sad. On the upside, I’ve lost a bit of weight.

I’m starting to really love the internet. Yep, turning into a real geek.

First I upload all my bookmarks onto del.icio.us after an horrid scare installing (and uninstalling) Mozilla Firefox, and then…
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