» This book changed my life

The God of Small Things
Not least because it's beautiful, but last year I loaned my copy to my best friend. I'd been silently and deeply in love with this man for years but somehow managed to convince myself that the soulmate-y connections between us were all platonic - it was the only thing to do as he was both in a relationship and an extremely close friend of not only me but my fiance. Anyway, I gave him my book and he read it, loved it, and gave it back to me. I re-read it straight afterwards as him falling in love with it so much had made me want to revisit it. All fine until I got to the passage 'if he touched her, he couldn't talk to her, if he loved her, he couldn't leave, if he spoke he couldn't listen, if he fought he couldn't win'. This was underlined. My heart stopped for what felt like a minute when i realised that he had done it, and he felt exactly the same way about me.

So - it's almost a year later, life has been turned upside down, our ex-es loathe us both (and are well within their rights) but the facts are that I am now with the man of my dreams and despite the hurt I've caused other people, I could not be happier. I truly believe I've found The One, if you think that the one exists. And if it hadn't been for me re-reading the book I would never have confessed how I felt.

My favourite book for many many reasons, and I'm never loaning my copy to anyone ever again. It's incredibly precious to me.
(Thu 15th May 2008, 18:52, More)

» When animals attack...

Monkey Magic
Magic? They're little fuckers, they really are.
Halfway through a very steep and extremely hot climb up a Buddhist temple in Asia I needed to sit down. I'm not joking, in seconds there were three of them surrounding around mee, screamng and bareing their evil yellow little teeth. As they started jumping up and down and waving their arms, I panicked. I did the only thing I could think of to distract them - throwing what was in my hand and hoping they'd run after it. Did I throw the piece of fruit in my right hand, that in restrospect they might have been after? No. I threw what was in my left hand. My wallet.
And the next night, outside my hotel, one shat on my head.
(Thu 2nd Jun 2005, 13:07, More)

» Petty Sabotage

Coffee, mate?
Does sabotaging peoples health count?
I'm the only girl in an office full of men, so naturally I constantly get asked to make tea/coffee. I'm more than happy to take my turn, but over the past few weeks I have been gradually increasing the amount of sugar they all take. I'm up to three and a half big spoonfuls now for most of them. Fatness or diabetes will ensue, and I don't really mind which.
(Wed 4th May 2005, 14:15, More)

» Terrible Parenting

Exam results matter..
My mother didn't pay my school fees for about a year, so on the day when I went to collect my A Level results my headmistress wouldn't give them to me. I called my mum in floods of tears and she said, 'right - thing is, I owe the school about £12k. I can pay it if you want and you can have your results, or you can have £1000 today from me and we'll work out a way of getting your results some other time'. I finished school two years early, so was deferring university anyway and exam results were..unnecessary. Plus this was 14 years ago and to a 16 year old girl, £1000 was a fuck of a lot of money.

Guess which option I took?

Best summer EVER. I love my mum.
(Thu 16th Aug 2007, 12:52, More)

» Putting the Fun in Funeral

Sod the funeral, on with the wake..
My estranged father was a fairly evil bastard and died of lung cancer at the end of last year. Rather than being hypocritical and attending his funeral, I took the day of work, took my mother to the pub in her village and we both got royally pissed on extremely expensive champagne. It was ace, and makes me think that at least he gave me some fond memories in the end.
(Fri 12th May 2006, 8:44, More)