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

Parades? And pizza is never a bad idea.

Today, got everything done, up to Reading, got stock, then down to Brixton to get these baby clothes tee'd up. I think they will be quite good, it will be nice to have a new line of stuff on the stall in any case. Decided against the Micheal Jackson line, for baby clothes anyway. I mean, it alludes very strongly to child abuse, which is all very ha ha, but I like the company being rather cheeky rather than being seen as seeking to offend. I think I'll still get at MJ, but not on baby clothes. But I'll run it past my Board of Directors on Monday.

Yes, so, Monday we are meeting and thrashing out what the company wants to achieve, and how it is going to do it. It will be very good for me, as Craig especially will *always* shoot holes in anything I say if he possibly can, and this is very healthy. I really need that kind of thing, I think anyone who creates their own product needs that. I am now happy with having Kate on the Board. You know as well as I do the reservations I had with this, and to an extent still have, but she is just too enthusiastic to ignore. She loves the company, and goes to great lengths to promote it. And she will be a good Mother Hen for me and Craig. The central question I want to put before them is does the company carry on as it is now, ie very much a cottage industry, or seek outside funding, and if so, when. I am completely split on this, and it will be good to thrash this out with them. It should be said that we all have a considerable amount of business experience: Craig running his software company, Kate with the market and also a small art company she ran with a friend, and me with the pub. So a good complimentary mix there. And if nothing else, they provide good moral support, which, let's face it, we can all use. I understand full well what this company is up against, and it will be good to have enthusiastic backing from Kate mixed with Craig's more sound and measured comments. With Nick, it was a problem, as he would just agree with everything I said, as he had no sense of ownership. I spoke to him the other day, it was like old times again, and thank goodness for that. There is no denying that the shadow of the company loomed large over us, as he always felt bad walking out. Now, the company is unrecognisable, at least in outlook, so he no longer feels guilty. Nick's role in the pgj legend was to help light the touchpaper, which he did admirably.

Odd, your view on Brian. I love it when Important People come into my social circle, kind of really like being slightly overawed from time to time. Happened, incidentally, with both Craig and Kate, when I first knew them.

yep, parades. 'tis the season. i.e. mardi gras next week. yeah, it happens every year, hard to believe. equally hard to believe is the fact that some one ate a slice of my leftover pizza. i came home from slaving all fcking day in the ceramics lab, thinking 'thank god i have 2 slices of pizza waiting for me.' and what do i find? half my stash, gone. oh well.
i dont' remember exaclty what i said about brian..but it's that old chestnut, the more i like someone, the more the balance of power and need, as i perceive it, is tilted to my extreme disadvantage, and i go into a protective stance rather than extending a lot of tender green shoots in their direction. pardon the mixed metaphors. i'm not saying it's right, or good, because i hate it; it's just a least-resistance strategy for an organism with very little social energy to expend.
so it's not that i don't want him because he's important, it's just that it would matter if i felt rejected by him. basically. so since what i say to him would also matter so much, most of the time i am just not up to saying anything. obviously it would be great if we could fight evil side by side and all, but y'know. there's a great sea of creepiness between me and most of the world. not that you needed all that explained to you but it certainly is a constant source of fascination and aggravation for me.
well, anyway, it is good that you've got the right people in the foxhole with you on the pgj front. i would certainly not dispute the value of moral support.

Yeah, the thing about relationships and such is they absolutely and necessarily involve making yourself vulnerable, to someone who isn't going to take advantage of you. And vice versa. And, personally, I wouldn't want a relationship to be some kind of power struggle. I just don't consider myself that untouchably precious, really. And it would, you know, be crap and everything. Yeah, power exists in every relationship: with me and Kate, perhaps she's in charge, perhaps I am, most probably a mixture of the two, but who's counting.

At the market today, some woman from New York offered me her sister.

Went up the pub after school with Simon, the Hawley Arms, which is my fave pub in Camden. Best jukebox ever.

So very tired.

...oh, haha, yes, 'parades'. For some reason it read it as 'pareedez', and thought it was Spanish for something.

yeah, and when you said "Parades?" for a moment i read "paradise." weird. wierd. whichever. i am notoriously bad at spelling that word. how ironic.
it's not that i need to be 'in charge' or that that kind of power is specifically what i'm concerned with. though i've never liked feeling that i have no hold on someone that matters a great deal to me... which is partly why i was in constant agony with brett. constant agony which probably adversely affected my ability to deal with him. but i'm just so very aware of how very fragile i am. or precious, whatever.
well, feeling less uncool today in spite of that. am about to go downtown and see some belly dancers at the olde Hookah Cafe. should be edifying.
how many t-shirts is a new yorker worth, anyway? i presume this was some sort of haggling gambit.

No, actually, she bought a Vegans t, and we were just chatting for ages. She was very nice actually. Anyway, she said that I would have to hook up with her sister, who was 40 'but hot'. Has just in fact mailed me to give me her contact details in YN. Weird.

Very pleased with Vegans and Middle Class, which are certainly punching their weight at the stall. Good weekend, etc. Getting new pictards done for the site this week, so quite excited. Prolly get Jon to model them, as he is a bit of a whore for the camera, and he has a kewl snowboarding helmet.

yes, jon will be an awesome model. i can tell somehow.
bloody weather. i wish i didn't hate rainy days like i was some kind of sunny child, but i do. ah well. my mood has finally righted itself for no apparent reason in the past day or so, and now i can even cope with being a bit damp. well, the reasons were probably 1.) talking to lenna; 2.) going downtown, getting food and watching belly dancers; 3.) not watching TV for a whole day.
i don't see why "40" and "hot" should have to be joined with "but." everyone knows 40 year old women are the best. go for it.

Like I'm going to NY for a shag. But point taken.

Yeah, look, I'm sorry for turning this entire posting into some kind of Affection For Paul-fest, but it has happened again. I tell you this stuff as it is so bafflingly amusing, rather than trying to portray myself as some kind of Cockney sex god. It was the bird who gave me the ashtray, who comes to the stall to say hi all the time now, and of whom I have become increasingly fond. She's very nice actually, something quite important at a London university, and I am looking forward to us going out next week. It is so refreshing to just be able to meet people who accept the ludicrousness of my situation from the off and think it is great. I could have run down the corridors at my last job in flames and no bitch there would have turned a hair, as I was a weird, scowling street urchin from a Databuild. Ah, if only dear old Hynsey could see me now. So take heart, scowling weird people. Our day will come.

Anyway. Glad your mood has rightened. Yeah, I can see how watching belly dancers and eating would help with that. I actually had a somewhat sobering night last night while Kate and Craig dismembered pgj, albeit in good heart, and have left me rather terrified of everything company related. But, you know, I have to hear these things. Craig and I have totally opposite approaches to how the logistical side of the company should be run, total idealogical differences, with Kate - a born diplomat - guiding the discussion and finding the common ground. So, the meeting was what I had hoped for *and* dreaded, but was very constructive. There certainly is a palpable solidarity of purpose between the three of us, which is heartening. Already, our roles are clearly defined: I need to just stick to giving the creative input, and hand over as much of the rest as possible, once the business plan is hammered out and agreed, which is scheduled for April. Fact is, Kate and Craig just know better than I do about so many of the aspects of running a business, and I have to respect that. That is, after all, their job in the company, and why I wanted them involved. They are compatible personalities, too, and have been raving about each other all day on the phone. So, I am happy I appear to have the right advisors around me, and once we can all concentrate upon our respective roles after April, it will be quite a formidable little unit.

yeah, the old "constructive criticism" and "reality check" kinds of proceedings are absolutely vital for absolutely anything anyone wants to do seriously. it's a very very good thing to have people who can provide that. glad the meeting went well along those lines.
sounds like a cool date too.. when you think about it, running a market stall, you're putting a pretty good foot forward... it gives people a reason to talk to you, and something to talk about, and they can see right off the bat that, well, you are the kind of guy who sells those t-shirts. and the ONLY guy who sells those t-shirts. you are effectively miles ahead of, for example, some dude reading a book at a coffee shop. plus it just sounds like you are suited to the environment, certainly making the best of it at any rate. not just sitting there waiting for someone to buy something etc. so, well, seems natural that good things come of it.
i myself had a decent day today. was and am kind of tired due to not sleeping well, god knows why...i vaguely suspect i was having some kind of dog-like response to the developing electrical storm... but anyway, spoke briefly but pleasantly to brian this afternoon which represents an improvement, even if the closest i got to declaring my admiration was remembering his dog's name. still nice to feel like myself again. poetry workshop went well too, as i have also hit my stride somewhat with the writing. i got some praise..and i like praise. but it is also a very good workshop and they give good suggestions. i had been concerned for a time that i would be unable to produce anything but crap and would consequently get nothing but punishment out of the whole thing. but this week was an improvement.
must now go hack out some stuff for screenwriting, then go to wal mart, then eat dinner and crash. would very much like to crash now, but alas.

Well, I'm looking for an American franchise, so I'll sell you the licences, you set up your own stall, and you'll be fighting boyz off by the time you graduate. And we both get cash, for nothing in my case. So everyone's a winner, especially me.

Yeah, I have learned to love Camden. How could I not? My attitude towards the market remains essentially confrontational, but I have been accepted by my peers and, it has to be said, enjoy a nice social life as a result. And I am de facto at one with my product. Well, as Kate points out, I *am* my product. She was coming out with all this stuff about, actually, the company sells me, rather than t shirts, which was a little bit uncomfortable to hear.

My temporary paralysis scare was a very real thing. I just could *not* work out where the sound was coming from. The joys of myopia.

Felt very worried about the legal side of the business today, but having spoken to Jazz, my mind is at rest. I worry out of proportion to the situation, it's just that that is the weakest part of the company in the long term, and believe me a slip now could come right back to haunt me - and the Board - in years to come. Craig and Kate would be personally liable for any mismanagement on my part, even if it happened before they joined the company. So I understand why they are insistant on that side of things being buttoned down. Currently working on a document to provoke a solution to the question of printing costs, which, are ludicrously high. Although, as Craig pointed out, there may be other solutions to simply buying printing equipment and doing it in house, which is very time inefficient. He approaches the whole thing as a mathematician, which is what his masters degree is in. It does provide a very unemotional, logical angle on things. Which drives me mad, but is useful.

Glad the poetry is going well, and I like the sound of this workshop of yours. God knows I have no interest whatsoever in poetry, but you do and it is good that you feel, I don't know, nourished. So, well done.

hmm yeah, i could stay in new orleans and work the french market, brian could actually just print the shirts here, there is literally no way it wouldn't work.
also, The Mill in lincoln sells (or has available for purchase; god knows if anyone buys them. presumably not) Homestar Runner shirts for some reason...i'm sure i know someone who knows someone who works there. i.e. i'm sure lenna knows someone who works there. endless possibilities really.
though to be needlessly honest, you would in fact need some other american to be your contact, with anything involving practicality or math or social skills.
ha ha... i'm afraid i am still finding your psychological misfortune hilarious... well, it was the way you narrated it really. in the wrong hands, there are few things less funny than paralysis, blindness and urine... the ultimate triple-threat.
i get to do nothing tonight. hurray! i'm even going to treat myself to a frozen pizza. i've been a good girl.

Yeah, out with Jon last night which was quite a laugh. Got some mental photardz for the site. We had been to the Doghouse (mentioned in the Morrissey cd I sent) and were more than a little tipsy. I was laughing so much I couldn't hold the camera properly, it was kewl.

Useless at the market today: one shirt and five badges. So I think that I will chose my weekday trading days with more care; ie, when there are public holidays, school holidays, and such. One of the things I picked up from the board meeting was that time is a company commidity: it is a poor use of a company commodity to have me standing around for no return.

Went out with Martin after school today. Was pretty kewl. Offered to shag Gaby now that she's split up with Tom, for no reason other than, as I explained, I never ever think about the consequences of anything I ever do. She didn't say no, and was quite enthusiastic. Not sure I would really want to, well, sober anyway, but that's the wonder of booze for you. At this rate, I'm going to have to shag everybody.

Pizza! Get in.

yeah, the pizza was a bit of a disappointment. but since then i have had biscuits (the american fluffy floury kind) and fries at Popeye's (fried chicken place) so am well satisfied.
we did parades tonight. i bought a 32 oz daiquiri and it didn't really do anything for me...probably i just didn't drink it fast enough. i swear some of these things they sell here must have 'imitation nasty alcohol flavor' that makes stuff taste strong without getting you drunk. anyway, the parades were still fun and i caught bunches of beads. which is terribly exciting at the time. the parades are fckin awesome.
and as mentioned, had dinner at Popeye's afterwards, then i came straight back here. will probably go to bed soon, then get up tomorrow and do homework. then hopefully more parades and more effective drunkenness...i managed to drink half a can of bud lite but nobody was really paying attention to the point i was trying to make so i gave up.
oh yeah. we also have a super bowl party sunday night.
ok, time to try sleeping. let me know when the action-packed site pics r up
being drunk is nice. so i commend you.

I am watching the Super Bowl. It is gay. The commentator just said 'A lot can happen in four seconds'. No it can't though, can it, because this is just evil. No wonder the footie is the most popular spectator sport in the world. This is just very very slow rugby.

Camden good this weekend. Went out with Simon and Pip on Saturday night after school, five pints of Guinness in ninety minutes, I was all over the shop.

Craig and I looking at getting the t's printed in Europe, probably Poland. Copyright laws apply there and they need work. And quite cool to hang out there for a bit.

yeah, [american] football does suck. i've always hated it. except one or two games i somehow managed to get interested in. i enjoyed the Saints game at the superdome, for one. and one morning i watched a UNL (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, which used to be like number one, 35 winning seasons in a row or something) game on tv and freaked dane out with all the yelling i did. and that was fun. but this wasn't one of those games. it was very far away, and i was very sleepy for the whole stupid thing. i will say there have been more interesting games. but i can't say it's worth anyone's while to cultivate enjoyment of it.
5 pts of guinness sounds nice. we had jello shots.
i got up early this morning to go to parades. got beads lobbed at me, swore in the presence of children..but it was all in good fun. naturally the parade got stopped since somewhere up the line apparently there was a gunshot. so we got bored and tired around 2 in the afternoon and left, had lunch, i came home and watched Legally Blonde 2 til time for the game. haven't been sleeping terribly well but hopefully i will tonight, as i feel pretty damn tired, and i need to get up tomorrow and actually get some work done.

Ah, well good you enjoyed the parades.

Today, went on something of a road trip with Gaby and, oddly but nicer than it sounds, her 'mom', who is visiting from Texas. Went to Bath, a terribly nice town named after the Roman Baths there, then to Stonehenge which I really like, then into Windsor on the way back. Looked at the castle, just did tourist things. A nice day, all in all, and really loved being out in clean air. I remarked in Bath that I wished I had brought my camera, as it is a very scenic place and I could have taken some photardz for whenever I send some stuff over next. And Stonehenge is hardly un-photogenic, either: http://norman.walsh.name/1998/05/images/stonehenge.jpg It is slightly odd at first, you expect this massive towering mass of stone, when actually it is fairly small, but just possesses this *permanence*. I mean, it has been there forever and ever. Outdates the Egyptian pyramids by fifteen centuries, so it should know what it's doing. And mad to remember that, wow, *my* ancestors built that. And yours, come to think of it. Current thinking is that they did it as society was moving from hunting for food to growing crops. As hunters, they worshipped the moon, as a bright moonlit night = teh bets for hunting animals. Then, when they worked out that planting stuff means food, they became less nomadic and the first real settlements popped up. As a result of this change, they started worshipping the sun, which cultivates crops, and which caused a great deal of consternation. So, in an attempt to make order of this upheaval, the druids built, among other stuff still standing, Stonehenge. The druids put forward the idea that, nobody panic, as the sun and moon were in partnership, with the moon in charge. So, at sunrise on midsummer's day, the sun rises *within* the stones, while the moon rises outside, to show that it can come and go as it damn well pleases.

So what else. Discussed the business into the early hours with 3PO, very productive. All kinds of plans to work on. Got a mail from Anne, and looks like we are going out this week, maybe even tomorrow. Looking forward to it, although of course no guarantee that anything will come of it. I think, like with all my relationships with birds, it will either take right off straight away, or not at all. And let's not get ahead of ourselves: it is only a date. Or, as I put it in the email, an invitation to go up the pub and get hammered.

Jello shots over here are usually vodka, ie vodka jelly. I remember trying to get drunked on them one NYE, and not succeeding. I'm sure that done well they are great fun.

jello shots. done well, they are less than sickening. dane does good jello shots. you say you had basically vodka-flavored jello? lord, what's the point of jello shots without the sickly sweet taste of kiwi-strawberry to cover up the vodka? shudder. the amusing thing, to me anyway, is that at the rather (appropriately) lifeless superbowl party, dane just kept coming around with this tray of little plastic cups, and it was like he was bringing us our meds or something. complete with nursely cajoling. come on now, nobody leaves this house sober, etc. but they're more of a supplementary thing. i'm sure someone has managed to get drunk on them but it sounds rather pointlessly unpleasant to me.
yeah stonehenge is cool. there were pictures of it in my art history text. and yes, i did expect it to be huge. but apparently it isn't. well, that's ok.
well, i am getting some kind of throat sickness. and shockingly, lying in front of the tv eating pringles has not made me feel rested or replenished. i also haven't had any coffee today, come to think of it...

well, having looked at the stonehenge pic, 3x the height of a person seems massive enough to me.
you know, somewhere in nebraska they have a thing called 'carhenge.' http://www.stray.org/trips/bikes/robson/img/carhenge.jpg
i've been there. i thought it was cool.

Ha, carhenge. Who knows how they got there? Except maybe by cranes.

Yes, it was vodka jelly I had. Orange jelly, as I recall, made with vodka instead of water, so pretty bloody strong and awful. Seemed pointless to me, as boiling the vodka to make the jelly will surely destroy the alcohol. But it wasn't my vodka.

I am on my hot date tomorrow. 7.30 at the Hawley Arms. Nice email chat today. Apparantly her great grandmother or something was a suffragette, and Anne is herself a proclaimed feminist. This is going to be just great. A Jewish feminist. So much opportunity to be naughty.

Everyone is splitting up these days. Gaby and Tom bit the dust last week, and Pip and Maria this evening. Had a call from Pip, who was in a confused state - a bit drunked, I think - rambling on. Some kind of altercation had taken place, and the law had just turned up. It's nice to be called upon as mediator - again, as between Gaby and Tom - but, you know there is not really anything you can say other than tell the pair of them to chill the fck out. I have to see these people all the time in the market and in pubs thereabouts, so can't really be taking sides. Pip and Maria are as bad as each other, anyway. Bit different with Tom, as the bloke was an idiot, but still, I can't be telling him that really.

Spoke to Kate a lot today. And took delivery of the new badges, which I don't like at all, but really have to press on with them. Really got to get some new stuff on the site, it seems to be getting a lot of attention at the moment and it will be good to capitalise on it.

yes, Carhenge is in Alliance, NE. i now have a picture of it on my computer desktop, as it has made me miss the plains. i am SO not into this climate. nebraska is beautiful, wholesome and uncomplicated. big blue sky, softly waving prairie grasses. this place is all mushy. you get tuberculosis and malaria here. let it fcking sink.
so anyway. hope your big date went well. nothing going on here.. by the end of the day i was somewhat glad to be back in class. though, more precisely, by the end of the day i was absolutely thrilled to be out of class. funny how that works.