Just for me!

The very talented jjdebenedictis has drawn a picture all for me! It's got a cat and a robot in it and it's really cute. You'll have to pop over there to see it; it's at the end of this post.

Thank you, jj! You're the best!

I did a silly thing

I didn't know it was a silly thing; I thought that setting my laptop to "hibernate" would save power. Only there's a "known issue" that Windows Vista can't cope with hibernating and hangs. The trouble is, the issue wasn't known to me. So I hibernated, then I tried to restart the laptop and it hung. And kept on hanging. By the time I'd done a number of power resets (ie pressing the power button until it turned off) I had buggered the disk and the computer was working like a slug on Prozac, only not so fast or so reliable.

I've now spent two or three days reinstalling all the Windoze updates, after resetting the laptop to factory settings. I've got all my data. I'm reinstalling my blog reader and my Twitter program and all the other bits that I need. I've nearly sorted out the font size issue. What I haven't got is my bookmarks or any idea of what I've been missing for the last few days.

So if I've missed something scintillating that you've said, feel free to let me know. Otherwise, have a good August Bank Holiday weekend and whatever you do, don't hibernate.

Fiction reading makes you more sociable

Reading fiction increases your social and empathy skills according to an article in the Yorkshire Post.

I can't find any mention of a control group, or of a before and after test, or anything that would establish cause and effect. But hey! Why waste a good headline just because there are no facts to substantiate it! And don't we all want to believe that having our nose in a book is actually good for us? (Well, I know I do!)

I've levelled up!

I have brand new hearing aids free on the NHS! And they have volume controls! Yay!

As a truly bionic person I have now offically levelled up!*

Apparently not everyone is in love with their hearing aids. I can't understand it - I haven't got good hearing in one ear now, even with them, but it's a bloody sight better than it would be without them. So yay for being a cyborg!

You can see my previous aids here.

*Thanks to Lily-Razz for that phrase.

Confessions of an animal junkie

If you've been following this blog then you probably like animals (well, cats anyway!) and you may well have met Phoenix in the comments. So then you're sure to love her new blog where you can read about all kinds of animals and even get her to post pictures of your own beloved pets! And then we can all enjoy them!

Confessions of An Animal Junkie is here. Why not give it a look?

Just wrong

It's a real rifle. It's making a point. Only I don't happen to agree with the point it's making. The UK has managed to stay relatively gun-free and we don't have civil unrest.

Oh, sorry, yes we do. I'm not sure putting guns in people's hands would have improved the situation though.

Do you know how hard it is...

...to take a decent photo of the cat that's lying on your arm?

He makes typing a bit tricky too.

It's funny...

Comic from Ragebuilder.com

...because it's true.

Thanks to my older son for finding this.

Funny but telling

More funny gay marriage placards are here.

It's easier to make the point when you use humour. Some of the slogans aren't exactly Safe For Work.

Not a winner but...

Well, I didn't win anything in the Clarity of Night contest but I did make it into the forties club (people who scored 40 out 45 for their writing). So I'm very pleased, especially as reading through the other entries I could see so many whose work I really admired.

I've realised that the stories that worked best for me were the ones that managed to read like smooth prose (with or without dialogue) and didn't feel rushed or compressed, even though they only had 250 words to work with. I especially liked Old Kitty's story, which also made the forties club.

Aerin Rose won the Readers' Choice and Simon Kewin got an honourable mention. JaneyV and Precie were in the forties club. There may be other names you recognise if you pop over there and look! My entry was here in case you're interested.

There's something about a writing competition that fires up my creative streak.