Friday, November 21, 2008

Philavery, hideous goodness and Coco Pops


I bought Foyle's Philavery on my way home from work tonight. It's cold and wet and I am tired and headachey, and very much looking foward to curling up on the couch under a blanket and losing myself among the collection of uncommon and pleasing words. No doubt I will share my favourites with you soon.

While at the bookshop, I saw quite a few titles that are on my list of must-read books. I was a tiny bit tempted to grab them all and buy the lot, but fiscal reason reigned.


The joy of mastery


As I approached the steps at Federation Square on the way to work this morning, a toddler with a mop of curls was tentatively walking down them holding on to her mother's hand. She smiled at me, clearly thrilled with her efforts. I smiled back and thought about the pleasure and pride that come from attempting and mastering a new skill.

It's been quite a while since I learnt to do something new. I think it's time I put my pupil hat on...


Glam tram driver

I caught the tram home tonight because of the cold snap. The driver appeared to be sporting a wig modelled on a 70s glam rocker 'do, but I think it was actually his own hair. It was so appalling that it was glorious.

Does anyone else delight in things that are so bad they are good? The
Go Fug Yourself girls often do - they had an amusing entry today on Sarah Brightman's whackjob stage costume. I want to memorise the line "This is so much no, yet it all adds up to YES" for the next time I see some hideous goodness.


Cocoloco

I had a craving for Coco Pops the other day and have had a big bowl of the chocolatey cereal for breakfast the past two mornings. Mmmm....just like a chocolate milkshake...only crunchy. I had a bowl of them this afternoon too, and my boss disagreed when I insisted cereal is "anytime food". Pah!

I brought the half-full box of Coco Pops home with me tonight which means I carried it around the book shop in a clear shopping bag. Normally I have a calico carry bag or similar with me, but I had to scrounge up a plastic bag in the kitchen at work to avoid having to just tuck the box under my arm and go. I felt a little self-conscious about carting around a box of kiddy cereal - it doesn't really go with Foyle's Philavery - but the incongruousness of it still pleased me.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I absolutely LOVE 'go fug yourself'!!! You got me into that, so thanks ;)

I especially adore the Karl Lagerfeld conversations...omg, i almost piss my pants at those *snort*
I watched a doco about him, and he truly is that weird hehehe.

Had my own little moment of retail glee today...persuaded my local VideoEzy to sell me their copy of 'The Devil and Daniel Johnston' on DVD for $5. wheeeeeeee :)

am off to read the Karl archives at GFY, ta ta lovey :)

p.s. the area i am from in blighty has its own dialect or slang, and i was perusing a site about it the other day and came across a word i loved as a kid...my nanna used it a lot - *chobble* as in to eat something (usually something awkward all in the mouth at once, like a Freddo for example) leading to the question "what are you chobbling on?" (although it would more like "Wot am yo chobblin on?"

hehehe

sheesh, long comment. sorrrrrry! going now. bye :)

Katrina said...

There are many things that I've seen that are so bad they're AWESOME.

I used to drive past a bus stop every morning on my way to work and this woman was always there. She was very short, and VERY round. She would wear these very brightly colored mumu type dresses and funny little hats. One day I remember driving by and she was bedecked in a very bright purple. Purple dress, purple shoes, purple stockings, bag, and purple flowered hat. She looked like a grape on it's way to a party.

It totally worked for her.

Jayne said...

Hello Victoria. Don't apologise for a long comment! I love long comments!

I'm glad I have been able to convert someone to the hilarious pleasure of GFY. The Karl Lagerfield conversations are a cack!

I haven't heard of the Devil and Daniel Johnson. There's a job for Google a little later. A $5 DVD is good going.

Chobble! Hehe. I like it. I'ts very apt. Makes me think of someone with a gobstopper in their mouth and trying to eat it with dribbling. Philavery includes a lot of words from English dialects (not that I can think of any, so don't know why I mentioned it!).

Hi Mrs BB. The party grape sounds awesomely awful! I bet you looked forward to seeing her every morning. I occasionally see a woman in the area I work who has the highest, bouffiest beehive this side of the 60s. I imagine she was in her 20s in the 60s and she loved the style of the era so much she can't bear to change. It's so ridiculous that I am in love with it.

Anonymous said...

Re: This is so much no, yet it all adds up to YES

Oh, I am so memorizing that line myself! It's brilliant.

Never did like coco-pops. We weren't allowed sugar cereals growing up. I believe Captain Crunch was our rare treat. I loved going to spend the night at my grandmother's because she always bought that little box-set of sugared cereals. You know, the kind you could open up and pour the milk right into the carton.

Julian said...

We've had this discussion before, but I'll say it again. :) Breakfast cereal definitely -is- an anytime food. ;) Going down the travelator in the shopping mall on the way to work today, I accepted a small box of cereal from a promotions person. (She was actually handing them to people from the side while they were travelling down the last bit, which I thought was reasonably clever of her.) Free cereal: the day was already looking good! ;)

Attempting and succeeding at a new skill is a great feeling, definitely! I've been really enjoying picking up swing dancing recently, and it always feels good when I start to get the hang of something. The extra boost in there for me is that I'm finally managing to think less and just do more, which is something that's taken a lot of work (not just in dancing).

I got a big boost to my enjoyment and confidence at work today when I finally managed to give my first demonstration to a customer early on in my shift. Demonstrating's easy for me, but actually getting a customer interested is a lot harder! I'm enjoying learning about sales and promotions from the "other side of the fence" though: being on a shop floor as an "operative" instead of a customer. I managed to give another demonstration later in the day, which also went well, and, buoyed up by it and the other one, I finished the day feeling a lot more accomplished than I had on the previous two.

The story comes back to cereal being an anytime food now, because when I got home I needed a small snack to tide me over until my friend's 30th dinner (Teppanyaki!). The cereal was easy, at hand, and I was curious about it, so naturally, I ate it. It wasn't bad at all. :)

Note to self: must remember that I type a lot more when I'm tired. Speaking of which...

Earl Riser said...

Ha ha, go fug yourself is great. :)

I eat cereal whenever I feel like it, seems I only have it for brekky in the weekends.Not unusual for me to have it, as a desert after dinner, sheeesh.Or when I first get home from work.Been doing it for years.

Jayne said...

Hello Urban Panther. My brother and I rarely had sugary faux-nutritious cereals as kids either. Not that I have them often now, I hasten to add. I know the little box-set of cereals you mean. I think you can still get them.

Hi Julian. Have we had that conversation before? Man, my Alzheimer's is getting worse! In any case, I wholeheartedly agree. I used to eat Weetbix for dinner sometimes when I was feeling lazy or in need of comfort food. Cereal is a quick, convenient and relatively healthy snack/light meal (well, Weetbix is obviously more nutritious than Coco Pops but the latter is still better than junk food and you're getting a dose of calcium at least).

I think I need to write a list (of course) of things that I would like to learn and next year I will have a crack at them. (I've fallen into an end of year slump now). One thing I do want to learn that I know will really challenge me is HTML...but I have to say the thought of immersing myself in it is not entirely appealing. I'm sure it will be worth it though.

I'm glad to hear the new job is going well and allowing you to leave work feeling acomplished.

PS As I said above, I don't mind long comments at all. But yes, you should probably be in bed rather than on the computer (as I should be now too).

Hello Earl, gellow anytime-cereal- eater. Funny, I kinda assumed women would be more into Go Fug Yourself than men, but I'm pleased to find it has broader appeal.