Journal of the artist as a young man

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:59:24 GMT

My 4000 word essay is 2800+ words. I'm writing about chicken tikka masala, Gintama, Kagrra,, Starbucks's matcha frappucinos, and the Meiji Restoration.

In the words of Rolf Harris: Can you guess what it is yet?

Also, I am tired.

Also also, the JLPT was fairly crappy. Listening was easy but the other bits where hard. I need to learn so many more kanji.

And finally, iwouldstay, if you're interested: I think you'd like this week's Book of the Week on Radio 4. It's called 'Confessions of a Literary Hedonist', and it's quite entertaining.

Yes, yes. The struggle continues.

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:26:15 GMT

I'm very tired. In a good way though. Drinking decaf coffee, and now I'm gonna have a hot shower and go to bed. It's the end of reading week, and I did work. And I did relax, too... I think I did good.

Went to see the film Persepolis on Wednesday with Danni. It was so good! So funny and moving and beautiful! Like... everything a story and a film should be, all rolled into one. We laughed, we cried, we kissed £4.50 goodbye. I think I might just talk about it for the Introduction speech we have to do in Japanese. Should be easy (and vaguely interesting) enough. I urge you to go and see it when it finally comes out.

Recently, although I've had the odd spate of stress or depression, I've been fairly happy. I've gained some sense of perspective - some things matter, some things don't, and... I can't do everything. I'm just going to try and be content with what I do and with who I am. I feel happy. It's nice.

And it's a Baha'i Holy Day: The Birthday of Baha'u'llah. Happy Holy Day, everyone!

Tue, 29 May 2007 21:38:06 GMT

I am tired, and cannot sleep. Instead I'll go out, get breakfast, finish packing, do all the stuff I need to do and then nap. A flawless plan.

Wed, 09 May 2007 16:18:23 GMT

... I want a haircut. Ideas?

Oh, and...

Sat, 28 Apr 2007 06:55:20 GMT

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Sat, 16 Dec 2006 09:55:44 GMT

Dear Lost,

What the hell.

Yours, Daryl.

Sun, 01 Oct 2006 18:01:53 GMT

Ah! Insomnia is death! I have to be up in 4 hours and 20 minutes. Death. Death, I say.

Tue, 19 Sep 2006 13:10:09 GMT

Got a cold, going to bed now. School tomorrow. Ech.

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 13:36:47 GMT

Lilly O'Grady,
Silly and shady,
Sauntered around
Like a lazy lady.
Until the underbutler,
Malcom Cutler,
Hit her over the head
With his heaviest spadey.

Thank you, Radio 4.

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 01:33:15 GMT

Today I did very little. Just bumming around, wasting the day away. Little social interaction... little anything really. Hopefully tomorrow I'll do something more worthwhile. I did manage to watch Fight Club though - I got the DVD for about 4 quid in Virgin, seeing as how I always meant to see it, and everyone said it was good. It's a head trip, very strange. And Meatloaf is in it. Que.

Arun asked me for some change - "I'll pay you back tomorrow," he said, not that he will. He might remember next week sometime and knock on my door late at night to give the money to me - for some skunk. He said it after he had the money, I'm not sure I would've given him it if I'd known. "Not an actual skunk," he added, helpfully.

Sat, 27 May 2006 04:34:53 GMT

Dude, all my exams are over. Over! Freedom!

Memelicious

Wed, 17 May 2006 01:05:35 GMT

Take a look at your LJ friends list, then list up to ten things you want to say to ten different LJ friends.
DO NOT state who these people are.
DO NOT confirm nor deny any "comment speculation".

1) I thought about something you told me when I was writing an exam answer.
2) I like your posts. Post more!
3) You have changed, but I think it's fine.
4) With a melon?! Heinous!
5) You made me smile today.
6) Worry less, smile more.
7) You're funny.
8) Sometimes I worry about the state of your head, but then, sometimes I don't.
9) I look forward to seeing you.
10) I think you may be one of the ones that lasts.

Mon, 15 May 2006 22:32:19 GMT

Loudon Wainwright III + Anime lesbians!!!

Sat, 06 May 2006 18:17:15 GMT

The quote of the day goes to hildabeast's Which Oxford Library are you?! test (a bizzarre starting point for a journal entry, yes) One of the questions reads as follows:

Your scout walks in to find you in an embarassing situation. What is it?

Answer:

You're masturbating over a Sappho poem about myrtle.

That made me laugh very loudly. *goes back to living in the past*

Wed, 03 May 2006 01:18:44 GMT

today: felt crappy. went salsa dancing. felt better. decided to not use capitals.

Fri, 07 Apr 2006 04:25:46 GMT

Stolen from Yu-chan:
Go to Wikipedia and look up your birthday (excluding the year). List three neat facts, two births and one death in your journal, including the year.

February 11th

Facts:

660 BC - Traditional founding date of Japan by Emperor Jimmu.
1978 - Censorship: China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, Shakespeare and Dickens.
1990 - Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner for 27 years, is freed from Victor Verster prison outside Cape Town, South Africa.

Births:

1535 - Pope Gregory XIV
1847 - Thomas Alva Edison, American inventor and businessman

Death:

1963 - Sylvia Plath, American writer

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 00:31:57 GMT

Notice is hereby given:

Happy Party, my house, 7.30 - late, Saturday (the 8th), bring food, (soft) drinks, and music (yey!) for there will be much rejoicing. And brownies. And iced tea. Yey!

Sat, 11 Mar 2006 06:26:52 GMT

The good thing about going to Persian restaraurants with Persians.

Sun, 05 Mar 2006 02:42:47 GMT

So, Sina and I are sitting in Saffron, a Persian restaurant in town. We've finished our meal, and are just about to ~~walk into town~~ order tea (how did I get 'walk into town' here? I must be going mad...), when 3 emo kids, about 15 years old maybe, walk into the place and go up to the counter.

Kids: Can we have a sheesha?
Man behind counter: No, no sheesha today, only food!
Kids: *look disapointed and leave*
Man: Thank you!
Other man behind the counter: *says something in Persian*
Sina: He said: "What are you talking about? There's loads round the back!".
Man: *Persian*
Sina: "Yeah, but not for them."
Man: *more Persian, launches into a rant...*
Sina: He's saying: "How can she want a sheesha? That's terrible," he says...
Man: *Persian*
Sina: And I'm not even going to translate that...

Mon, 13 Feb 2006 15:36:28 GMT

Yey, I'm 20! My birthday was on the 11th, and due to happy coincidence, I got thoroughly sick with a cold and fever on the the Thursday evening/Friday morning, which was the 9th/10th. So I spent 3 days straight lying in bed feeling like crap, atempting not to die, and missed the Chinese buffet-going outing that I'd planned for the Friday. Ugh. Thanks to all those people who sent me good wishes and phone calls and stuff, and especially to rosumari who came and looked after me, got me sprite and also birthday cake (!) and ammusingly annotated card (!) as well as present. Thanks Rosu, I hope you feel better yourself soon.

So. This wasn't exactly what I expected/wanted for my 20th, but hey. I haven't eaten anything proper in 4 days, so I think I'll go and buy some bread and some more sprite and oh-my-God some cough medecine before my lungs eject themselves from my body. I feel a bit better in general, but still woozey and tired and a little... bleugh.

So...back to bed and listening to the radio I guess. But if I have to listen to The Archers one more time, I will snap. xD

Sun, 05 Feb 2006 03:31:48 GMT

My birthday in one week, I'm quite excited.

Today...or yesterday, was Joe, x_samurai's birthday, so Happy Birthday to you, again. I went round to Oxley on the bus, meeting Aki and... (damn damn damn, I forgot his name, please, someone tell me, for I am wicked and going to hell, straight to hell, aghhh... erm: The guy I saw you with on Friday, Pippa? xD) explaining to them the meaning of my badge 'Have you talked about talking about the weather today?'

Anyway, I got lost once on the way, and ended up going via Bodington. Yey. xD. Then eventually found out where I was going, got there, etc. Went to Danni's flat, went out, got curry, went back, ate curry, shortbread, and so forth. Then we watched Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, which is a thoroughly retarded movie, but very funny.

So then, afterwards, with Danni falling asleep, Joe walked me to the bus stop. Bus didn't come for ages, and then we were told by a random man walking past that they weren't coming this way because of an accident, down the road. So, we started walking down. Eventually we got to the accident site, and were told we had to walk round, through the spooky woods of death. So, after them (and randomly finding the Headingly campus of Leeds Met!) we walked into Headingly. Hung around at the bus stop for a bit, met up with one of Joe's friends, who suggested we just walk into town, after all. So... we did. It was good fun, an enjoyable walk, even if my feet do ache, just a little. It's a good, what? 6km walk? Maybe more? I feel really bad for Joe though, who walked me all the way home, and then had to walk back... although maybe you caught the bus up there? Thanks, in any case, mate!

Next time, you two should come over here and hang out. We can watch Princess Bride!

Narnia

Tue, 27 Dec 2005 03:13:37 GMT

Well. Life.

Tonight my family went out to see Narnia, which was very cool, I liked it. Mr. Tumnus is uber-cool, and it's a very visually nice movie. And Phillip the horse! Of course, there are strange aspects to Narnia - the implied racism/anti-Islamism in The Horse and His Boy and the fact that Susan leaves Narnia because she gets interested in 'lipstick and nylons and going out with boys'. Which is really weird and strange; The Last Battle kinda ruined Narnia for me in that way.

But, no creative work is perfect - I love Tolkein, but his prose style is far too long and rambly; I love Asimov, but characterisation? Hello? And likewise, Narnia is full of good stuff, Aslan makes a great Jesus figure, and the love everyone has for him is really beautiful and Rumi-esque. It made me tear up in the cinema. ... But yes. It was written in the 1940s, the man and his work aren't perfect, but it doesn't mean that you have to disregard and hate it completely, like Phillip Pullman apparantly does. I didn't really like Pullman's representation of God as an ancient and decrepid angel who blows away in the wind at the end, but his books are still beautiful. Incidently, Neil Gaiman apparantly wrote a short story called 'The Problem of Susan', about what happens to Susan after everyone leaves her for Narnia... my admiration for him grows daily.

...Well, that was serious. How are you?

Before I forget....

Mon, 28 Nov 2005 22:13:36 GMT

"And it says in the book that whoever eats rice with his miso soup at breakfast has betrayed Jesus."

"Aww, but the miso soup is so good!"

"You've just betrayed Jesus, Daryl. How do you feel?"

";_; Sad. ...and a little hungry."

Tell me why I feel so bu-looooo

Sun, 27 Nov 2005 19:18:19 GMT

I'm trawling through this essay really slowly, and it pisses me off. I don't really have much structure to it, and it's rambly and I worry about not answering the question and...yeah. Crap like that.

I'm tired and I have a cold, and... bleaugh. Basically, that sums up my life. I have all those little domestic things I need to do like laundry and cleaning and shopping, but I'm not doing them.

Anyway, life is fine, really. It's not all that bad, and I have food and coca-cola and tooo much green tea. But hey, it has vitamin C. yey! *dies quietly, buried by Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah* (Rose - Ishq! Ishq! Remember Ishq?)

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 19:11:05 GMT

Going away for the weekend with my family. There's a Baha'i National Festival in Scarborough, which is always fun. Coming back Sunday evening, and then there's a week of no class to enjoy... Stuff to do. Yes. Indeed...

Much with the tired.