h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Urgh. Argh. Woken up by the bin men at half past five. Went back to sleep, had nightmare in which I was about to be hanged for unspecified crimes and had to write my very last diary entry ever. Seb woke me very gently by putting his arms about me as I was apparantly whimpering in my sleep. Horrible waking up filled to back teeth with gallons of adrenaline. Must start day in foul mood whether I want to or not.

*worries about Lil's missing cat - cool name though*

I quite like the police. But if one started asking me stuff through my bedroom window while I was in bed I think I'd be quite justified in having a really good scream. Even if I wasn't startled. Just to make a point about the existance of doorbells and knocking and stuff.

I am now seriously considering having ice-cream for breakfast. I revert to studentness quite badly when I'm down on my sleep. Possibly all students are merely slightly sleep-deprived and not depraved after all? Apart from the bloke in the room below mine in halls, who used to pee out of the window and gave himself extra points at the top of his voice if he got a passerby. Git.

Morning all

-1.2 years for me, and gender neutral (did well in both the female and male tasks so obviously they couldn't decide). The program to go with the brain sex thing was interesting - think it is a series on um sunday um at nine. I think. They had an interesting study of a ftm transsexual on the big doses of testosterone. They put her through a battery of tests at the start and she had a fairly typically female brain. After (can't remembr how many years, definitely a few) they put him through the same battery of tests and his brain profile had become strongly male in characteristics. Was very interesting.

Am very busy, still desperatly slimming and doing planning things on a daily basis. All of our suppliers want paying in the next week or two our account was looking really healthy until the cheques started going out...

[k] - barely keeping up with the backlog...

{[j'au]} *leaves a packet of fresh catmint leaves from her garden for Lil & her search*

>Guilt. Pah. Who needs it? I certainly have an excess of it, and I grow more overnight the instant I get rid of some. I think guilt is a powerful motivator for many tasks, like calling moms and washing dishes. It's possible I would never clean the house if I didn't have guilt. But I hate it... And I've noticed something most recently - I tend to have attacks of guilt that go along with my PMS <


I tend to have attacks of guilt that go along with the morning after heavy drinking. But, to be fiar, that's probably called for.

>At what age and level of respectiablity does one stop feeling accused when dealing with the police?

Never. Police set off a 'what have I done' alarm in everyone, even lords and ladies. In fact, knowing the lords and ladies I know *especially* lords and ladies.

Took the brain thingy a while back. I think it decided I had a somewhat male brain, which didn't surprise me.

for Lil. Hope Hedlites is ok. It's awful worrying about kids - both two-legged and four-legged.

Guilt can be motivating or crippling. And certain persons could do with a little. Like sociopathic smellfungi who take it upon themselves to reorganize local festivals that don't need reorganized.

Lentilla, I used to have these moments of great spiritual insight. When I finally figured out that it was PMS, I didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed.

Today is Snow White day. Since my audience is 1-3 year olds, I have decided to go with the Disney version. And yes, I can name all seven dwarves. They didn't actually have names until the Disney folks made the animated movie. But the actual story is too dark for tiny folks.

<>

Pah! Scar 'em while they're young I say!

What, and the Disney version isn't? The witch's transformation scene can give adults restless nights.

I'm using the Disney storybook, KA. It's fairly tame. The evil queen is pretty ugly. I plan to linger over the pretty pages and go throught the ugly ones quickly. And I have a neat doll that has Snow White on one end with the tiny dwarves in her pockets. Then you turn it upside down and it has the prince and the witch with the apple.

When you think about it, most fairy tales are too gruesome for children. That's why they like them so much.

Why'd think kids like Dahl so much? It's not fo rthe cute fluffy mice you know .

Fairy stories are NOT too gruesome for littlers. The whole point is to give the littler a scare in a safe controlled environment with a safe nice adult handy. So kids learn that some people are really nasty, and that it's OK to hate Mum or Dad (or step-Mum or step-Dad) from time to time (this works especially well if Mum or Dad is reading the story - see? They don't mind about hating nasty parents. It's OK to think parents are nasty and hate them. Nice parents do come back too). Kids also learn that being brave, or clever, or lucky, or good is important too. As soon as they started bowlderising the stories for littlers' ears, they made all the heroines pretty and all the heros handsome and their moral worth and intelligence became irrelevant. BAD lesson for kids to learn. REALLY bad.

For more on this, read Bruno Bettelheim. He explains it all so much better. When read alongside Betty Freidan's Feminine Mystique, about why so many soldiers in Vietnam just cracked up when actually exposed to nasty stuff, and oh, that other study, about secondary school kids being far worse at socialising and empathy if they'd been bought up by protective parents who banned scary books and toys and films etc... Where did I read that? Anyway. Kids do need gore and nastiness, if only so they know that it IS gore and nastiness and therefore know how not to do it/ be it themselves. And because any kid with half a brain knows it exists but if adults keep denying it, how can the child learn to deal with it and process it? And aren't they then learning that adults lie?

Teach them about vampires. And stakes and garlic and lemons and holy water and sock-stealing. And then they''ll be fine when they meet a vampire.

It's funny how many vampire legends require the beheading of the creature... that'd pretty much do anybody in.

I used to watch horror films when I was a kid, and the only one that actually gave me nightmares was A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 5.

A lot of the vampire dispatching methods would do for most things. Your run-of-the-mill human isn't going to be looking great after a stake through the heart, either.

....ways of having a more enjoyable life are often talked about , but often involve effort, but here is an easy way (for British users).

....simply look in phonebook for the BT number for telephone preferrence service to stop all those pesky telesales people. A simple use of the menu system and peace starts in days.....my unwanted phone calls have been reduced by 95% (can't stop the 5% that come from abroad). This can be used for whichever phone company you use, and it's FREE.

I am not going to deliberately scare 40 1-3 year olds. Anyone who wants a room full of bawling, shrieking kids is welcome to them. And to the angry moms who have to calm them down.

I am even sorry I agreed to do fairy tales for this age group. The moms and other caregivers are having a great time. The kids could care less. They prefer our regular programs. Besides, it's hard to make the fairy tales simple enough for them to understand without losing the stories.

David, to continue the collective noun saga, I was laughing to a friend about our discussion. She asked if all librarians are like me. Pretty much, I told her. At which point she suggested a fruitcake of librarians.

aha but the TPS(telephone preferrence service)does not apply to any companies or subsideries of companies you deal with ,so i was told this morning by a representative from BT who phoned me up this morning .

poss explaining why i had recieved a phone call about bt broadband [yet when i signed the dotted line made sure that i infformed them did not want to recieve any communication about other offers], only two days after i sent a letter(email) about a double glazing firm that had got through twice ,useing the ruse when first phone up no one said any thing ,of course you phone back via the 1471 no .

*image of 40 toddlers running shrieking from the library... followed by image of Hyp never having to read to toddlers again and being allowed an extra tea-break instead... no, huh? Oh well. Wishful thinking is such fun*

Sorry, I missed the bit where you said they were THAT young. [Note to self - read posts CAREFULLY, you silly Agapanthus]. In that case, daisies and bunnies all the way.

I signed up for TPS. It's very cool. I get mostly left alone. And if anyone unsolicited DOES call, I feel I have the right to tell them I don't take unsolicited calls, please take my name off the list, and put the phone straight down. Occasionally they phone back (the same person!) and I get to lose my temper. Lovely.

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I just tell them that I will take them to court as is my right under the Data Protection Act unless they remove my details *immediately*.

[p]

being registered with the TPS doesn't seem to deter the automated calls telling me I have won a holiday/car/large sum of money/jetski/other assorted crap and to claim it I just need to "press nine now" "press nine now" "press nine now" ..repeat until it realises I didn't pick up and it is talking to an answerphone, or that I have just left the phone by the cradle in order to allow them to rack up the highest possible call charges...

No person to threaten litigation to, no contact number to forward to BT, just and annoying american woman saying "press nine now" endlessly

Clean cups! Clean cups!
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