you'd best believe

I get a lot of forwarded mail from my friends. Most of them are those "funny" emails which I can cope with, some are even good for a bit of a giggle, but every now and then they send me ones which just f*ck me off. They make me wonder how smart my friends really are and surely they're not retarded enough to believe these things? It seems they are, bless them. The latest one I got this morning was:

hi guys Sorry to break the news, but looks like all of those
warnings were real! The use of msn and mail will cost money from summer 2007. If you send this message to 18 different people from your list your little msn icon will become blue and that will make it free for you. If you dont believe me go on (www.msn.com) and see it yourself. Dont foward this message, copy paste it so people will actually read it.

Hey it is Andy and john the directors of MSN, sorry for the interruption but msn is closing down. this is because too many inconsiderate people are taking up all the name (eg making up lots of different accounts for just one person), we only have 578 names left. If you would like to close your account, DO NOT SEND THIS MESSAGE ON. If you would like to keep your
account, then SEND THIS MESSAGE

TO EVERYONE ON YOUR CONTACT LIST. This is no joke, we will be shutting down the servers. Send it on, thanks. WHO EVER DOES NOT SEND THIS MESSEAGE, YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE CLOSED AND YOU WILL COST £10.00 A MONTH TO USE. SEND THIS TO EVERYONE ON YOUR CONTACT LIST. NOW YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO. PLEASE DO NOT FORWARD THIS or REPLAY. COPY
THE WHOLE EMAIL. GO BACK TO YOUR INBOX AND CLICK ON NEW. AND PASTE THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

hey everyone, i dont normally send this sort of stuff out but had
a look on the internet and its actually true . On the 30th of november , we will have to pay for the use of our MSN and email accounts unless we send this message to at least 18 contacts on your contact list. It's no joke if you don't believe me then go to the site (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1189119.stm) and see for yourself. Anyways once you've sent this message to at least 18 contacts, your msn dude will become blue. please copy and paste don't forward cos people won't take notice of it

I mean for the love of Christ. Who on this earth could believe this? I also checked out the link mentioned and yes, there is a story on BBC news where it is rumoured that MSN might start charging (might) but how on earth does that lead people to believe that forwarding spam to 18 people (WTF kind of number is that anyway?!) is going to help apart from proving how many stupid people there are in this world? (If it sounds like I'm starting on a bit of a rant here, you wouldn't be wrong. Stupid spam is on my Top10 list of things that really get me riled.) I mean how is MSN going to know how many people you forward your mail to? HOW? I mean I could sanction Big Brother paranoia about it if you use hotmail but let's face it, most people don't any more. *deep breath* Right. I am going to try to calm down now and not sit here waving my hands in the air shouting, "WHY? HOW? Why are people so stupid? How can they believe this? Why are some of my friends this stupid? WHY? HOW? WTF?!!" Okay. I'm done now. (Until the next thing starts me off...)

the legacy of kitty
I know that everyone has songs that they associate with certain people and times in their life. For me, Hey Ya will always remind me of my final days at Critic but also strongly of Kitty and Kate. Oh the final Thursday nights when we would be shaking our booty around the office to this song (apparently Kate would know what time it was to the half hour because I would get up, have a wee walk around, then put on some music and start shaking my ass) while Holly was proofing the mag... And now, the new song which will remind me of Kitty- irreplaceable. I'm not a fan of Beyonce really but it's hard not to love it with Kitty singing it ALL THE TIME, but with such cute enthusiasm. She's even got me singing along... Before Kitty arrived, my flatmate Sean commented that she might be a little freaked out by our flat and think we're weird. I smiled at him and said that he hadn't met Kitty. Also, I think it's cute that he thinks that I only act crazy/cool with him and whereas yes, not everyone is special enough for me to dance around the kitchen with and give special high-fives to, Sean is not alone in this treatment.

the onus of hosting
Having someone stay with me, I feel an obligation to provide a "full" London experience. Kitty needs to have curry & chips, see sights (Kitty almost tried to talk me out of posing for big/smalls. For shame KittyKat.), have a pub meal, have a cooked breakfast, get rained on horribly, jump in to a crowded tube train, shop in grandiose stores, sample my local French delicatessen, and so many other little things. Most of it involves food, you will note... I also can't take any time off work so I try to do what I can on the weekends and evenings but worry that I'm not preforming my hostess duty to the mostest. At any rate, Kitty is too polite to complain so I'll just assume she's getting what she needs out of this trip. We spent a major part of our weekend house/kitten-sitting although Kitty's reaction on walking in the door was, "That's not a kitten, that's a fucking horse!" I tried to look at Arthur in an objective manner and yes, he is almost 10 months old no not really a baby any more and he is larger than many fully grown cats that I have known but he's still a baby to me. I love looking after him. He tolerates my hugs, has funny personal habits and, most importantly, he purrs. If you're a cat person you may understand this but there are few things nicer than a purring kitty. I get quite nostalgic over that contented rolling rumble they generate.

me and my cooked breakfast. lucky thing I like mushrooms, I think they gave me a whole field...


whilst having coffee in Tate Modern, Kitty and I couldn't resist taking arty photos and giving ourselves halos. I mean who could?


Here I am trying to hold an umbrella in rain whilst holding a camera, protect afore-mentioned camera from the afore-mentioned rain and take a photo in a gap in the foot traffic. I think I look hilariously wannabe-covert.


cryptic
Life is throwing me a couple of curve balls at the moment and due to their nature, I'm not gonna be discussing them online but what I am gonna be doing is seeking solace in wine and curry with Kitty tonight. (And a run after work, no time for gym today so I'd better get my ass out for some form of fat-burning.) There will probably be more singing along with Beyonce and booty shaking. A girl does what it takes to lighten up, pride has no place in these matters. ;-)