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

Am curious to know more about your love of sparkly shiny things as you weren't that specific.I mean is it jewelry, precious gems ...and do you have a collection?

Hi there!

No, there's no collection, other than a few bits and bobs. The nearest I've got to any precious gems are a couple of old engagement rings that are sat in a drawer - they've got a couple of chips of diamond in them but they only sparkle a bit.

I suppose my real love is wearing clothes that sparkle, so I've got belts, clothes, dresses covered with sequins, and lots and lots of body glitter. Sometimes my bed looks like the night sky, as it's strewn with glitter on a dark background, all twinkly and lovely.

A couple of old boyfriends used to complain that they got the micky taken at work as they used to get glitter on their faces.

I guess I never really grew up!

Am a bit of a magpie myself and find I am drawn to sparkly things,this does include beading & seqiuns on clothes,but sadly I find that jewelry shops do call to me to come in,once in side I often feel drawn to some must have item,and have seen me return several months later to buy.I have wondered why anything that glints holds such fascination for me but I think it must be buried somewhere in the depths of my childhood or could Barbie & Sindy be to blame..?
The couple of old engagement rings you have sound like an interesting love story...or tales of tragic love lost!
I believe I am too young to grow old and too old to grow up

I agree about the growing up thing!

I think with me it is childhood dreams of being a princess. I've got lots of long skirts that trail behind me as I walk downstairs, big skirts that puff out, and added together with sequins and metallic thread they make me feel very princess like!

Barbie and Sindy could be to blame - but I don't remember them having anything very flash - Barbie did have some 'diamond' jewellery, but it wasn't sparkly.

Think I had a princess Sindy doll(it could have been Barbie)and it definately had a tiara!but it was probably the make your own beads set to blame.It was a great big box full of different coloured sparkly beads which I threaded into 27 necklaces to be worn together
I did have a dressing up box which could explain my love of clothes,but I can recall spending a lot of time fighting with my brother over the red indian head dress and I did love that Batman cape.The head dress lost a few more feathers in each fight and more often than not I had to be Robin
I think you are being evasive over the engagement rings or maybe you are saving it for your next best selling novel manuscript

oh, forgot the rings. I was married for a few years - I kept the rings in case my son ever wants them, or he has a daughter who might like them.

The other engagement ring was from a boyfriend who was very skint but tried to impress me with some £150 earrings. I wasn't impressed, as I don't like that sort of thing, so we decided to take them back to the shop, and he asked if I wanted to swap them for a ring. I thought about it for a bit, and said yes, so I got a ring. After him not bothering to tell his mum (too scared most likely as she was a fecking snob and I'm a bit common - despite me never having been a supermarket cashier like she had once been) I gave up on the idea that we were engaged and stuffed it in a drawer. Kicked him out a while later, then when I decided he might as well come back he decided not to.

So I've got two! It was a bit naughty of me really, as I've got no intentions of marrying again. Been there, done that, boring! But I like collecting rings!

Ah an interesting tale,its a nice idea to keep them and pass them on to your family,don't think I've ever heard of anyone who was proposed to by exchanging a pair of earringsBut wouldn't it make a great movie could be the next 'Four weddings & a funeral'I wonder if Hugh Grant would be interestedWho would you like to play you?What about the snobby future mother in law(lucky escape if you ask me)Patricia Routlege maybe...
My best friend has been engaged 5 times married once and is again currently engaged.She kept all her rings except for 1 she sold for £50 after she cut him out of all her photos.She is Hungarian and highly spirited
I have never been engaged or married but I do like collecting those rings!and I have been given some from my Aunts.
Let me know who you would cast in the movie.

I don't think I know anyone I'd cast as her - she was horrible.

He wasn't proposing when he offered the earrings - he was just showing off. Stupid really. I'd have been much more impressed with £50 (or even £5) spent on something that I liked, as that would have shown that he paid attention to me! And the more parcels the better - even if they did only cost 50p each. And wrapped up in sparkly paper please...

I don't think these rings are worth enough to sell. And I quite like the ego trip.

Lots of little parcels are always more fun than one big pressie.An inexpensive gift given with thought is always the nicest.My boyfriend once bought me a new toilet seat for valentines day I wasn't sure if I should be pleased but I had just decorated the bathroom..

Well, if it's what you wanted... ??

One of my partners used to bring lots of obscure little books home for me, and really pay attention to what I wanted. Not spending much money, but always thinking of me. Awww....

He sounded nice,what happened to him along the way?Did he have a terrible mother too or did the body glitter get to much for him
I wonder what happened to the fiance(with snooty mother)do you think he is married to someone just like his mum or do you think he is divorced because of his mother

As far as I know he's living with his girlfriend now and is probably as happy as he'll ever get.

The other one was very nice, but there were some things that just weren't going very well so it was best it was called a day. He's now happily moved on as well.

I moved on to a very satisfying relationship as well, and now I'm on my own for a while to concentrate on my son.

So what about your lovelife? You've heard all about mine since around 1997, so I think it's your turn.

Am sickeningly happy with my boyfriend at the moment we have been together years and my sister keeps warning me not to be complacent.We finish each others sentences often because he knows what I am thinking.We still can have a healthy full blown row every now and then but I wouldn't have it any other way.To explain my sisters point of view to you her best friend's husband left after 30 years of marriage and they were the happiest couple she knew.
My boyfriends greatest gift to me is his sense of humour and I am always amazed that he can still make my laugh.Don't get me wrong he is not perfect after all he is a man.Sorry for being sexist but am a realist
The rest of my love life history I am saving for a really bad mini seriesGlad for your fiance number 1 that he has found happiness despite his snobby mum.Usually when you are least looking for a relationship one turns up .

He was fiance number 2 - the man I married is also happily with another woman.

I seem to pick men who haven't had a partner for years and years (if ever), go out with them, get them all trained up, and then let them go. Then another woman gets the benefit.

I like to think that I'm performing a service for womankind.

Don't know if you believe in karma but I would think you would be due some wonderful repayment in kind for your service to womankind That training is hard to do.
I am sure that your son will ,when he is old enough,appreciate women for the wonderful multi tasking creatures that we are.I don't have children but my sister & brothers have and it is not easy to be a good parent I have learnt from them.
My nieces and nephews have been a source of joy and constant wonder to me but would often try the patience of a patron saint
Trying to have a relationship and rear a family I think deserves some kind of O.B.E or an A.B.E (above and beyond duty)
Bet you have 27 hobbies and still do an excercise class?

I don't have that many hobbies - I've got h2g2, cross stitch, a family tree that I'm updating and looking into (another family member arranged it) four pets, a garden to keep going and absolutely *no* exercising. But I do have a full time job and a house to keep clean (if not tidy) as well, so I think I should be excused the exercise class.

I am trying to bring my son up to be a good person - but then I suppose every mother does. Whether anyone else thinks I'm doing right will depend on whether they agree with my ideas.

I've got 2 nieces and a nephew and I love them all to pieces. I try to get round to seeing at least one of them every few weeks. That doesn't sound like much, considering they are all very local, but when you consider all the above I have to do, I am very busy all the time. They don't often come to visit me, so I think I should be excused that as well!

I saw from your personal space that you're new to computers - what's the course that you're doing? I'm looking for jobs at the moment, and one I applied for said I should be willing to do that course and I hadn't heard of it before.

ECDL is the european computer driving licence,and is supposed to be an internationally recognised qualification designed for those who wish to gain a benchmark qualification in computing,IT skills & enhance their career skills(well that is what the course tutor says about it)The NHS,local authorities,banks are now asking for this qualification as a requirement so it seems like a worthwhile course to take.
I think that the last thing you need is an excercise class,probably more rest would be nice for youCross stich is very creative!My friend has just finished sewing a samuria warrior!My mother started researching our family tree and discovered long lost relatives in Boston who now keep in touch.They were also looking up their family tree at the same time it really can be a small world sometimes.
Nieces and nephews can be fickle about visiting but that is the arrogance of youth,or the swimming club,gymnastics, kickboxing(their list of activities is endless & changes from day to day)to blame
You mentioned your garden,that is a passion of mine,consuming a very large chunk of my free time but it is a labour of love to me,and it means that I can be excused from the excercise class too

Maybe I'll look into that course in my (HAHAHAHA) spare time. The boss of the company I'm about to be made redundant from told me that I'm more computer literate than most people who use computers for their work because the computer *is* my work. Interesting way of looking at it!

I love cross stitch, although I do still feel vaguely embarrassed talking about it. It seems something that old people and your mum does, but I'm forcing myself to 'come out' about it. I'm hinting to my mum that I want http://www.focusmm.co.uk/store/productpages/productinfo/ffb056.html this for my birthday at the end of May - I want to design some charts. I've got loads and loads of charts and kits to do, but I want to put pictures to some sayings that I've got. You know, the bumper sticker sort of thing:

A little greed can get you lots of stuff.
I said "no" to drugs, but they just wouldn't listen.
We are Microsoft. Resistance Is Futile. You Will Be Assimilated.
One good turn gets most of the blankets.
If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.

I've got one chart that I'm hoping to do after the one I'm now doing (if I don't have to stop to do my parent's ruby wedding for September before I get that far) that says 'come on baby light my fire' with a picture of a terrible looking woman waiting to go to bed! I intend to put that at the bottom of my stairs. I just wish I hadn't got 7/8 kits still to do and about 1000 charts I want to do as well... Oh well, when I get made redundant, at least I'll have a little extra time to get them done while I'm job-seeking!

I am sorry to hear you are getting made redundantbut ever the optimist I must say every cloud has a silver lining.Your boss is probably right about your computer literacy and because you are experienced the course would be easy for you .I know a few people who are doing the course on-line with self study,Learndirect would set up an ILA(individual learning account)for you and they pay up to £200 for a course.As you say in your(rare & valuable) spare time.
My friend has done a few cross stich cushion covers with sayings on them.Like 'don't blame me for my relatives blame Charles Darwin'which was not a favourite with her brothers!I really liked the'If you must choose between two evils'that you wrote . I think you could market the cross stich sayings,probably make a fortune from it.
Be brave about coming out,maybe you could start a group ,like cross stitch anonymous,the lottery commission would probably fund youMy friends other cushion read'My other husband was a slob'

I don't really mind being made redundant. I'd done nothing but complain that I didn't like the job since I started. I was going to persevere with it, in the hope that it would get better. If not I was just going to stay a year and then look for something else. There was more admin than I wanted (in fact my job title within the main parent company was changed to 'Administrator' just after I'd started, although within the website it was Community Producer), and not very much responsibility - I kept being overruled by my manager without her even asking my reasons for my decisions. She kept telling me I didn't need to do certain things - things that I know improve communities - even though I had plenty of time to do them. The times she did consult me about things, she just did what she's already decided anyway, or she consulted me and the marketting team and then took their advice! I know that I'm not used to working in a commercial company, but to take the advice of non-community people over an experienced community manager does seem a bit bizarre. I didn't ever really get into the 'clique' of the office - although I didn't really try very hard. They all seemed so strange and alien to me. And the technology of the site was a bit pants. To keep page stats up they only have one message per page, and then they gloat that they get more page views that other community sites! Well yes, it takes 20 pages to read what would be one page on other sites.

Oh, sorry for that rant.

I think I'd love to start cross stitch anonymous. There is a stitchers club near me, and I did think about going with my son (he's dabbled a bit, but could always take his Gameboy to keep him quiet) but the thought that they are all going to be old ladies puts me off a bit!