You Fib, Voting and Representation (by sarah)

A dark malaise is pouring over my country
The hate is bile rising choking community
Dear politicians You Fib
Not even the old skool twist of the figures
You simple do not check them in the first place
And it scares me how reasonable you can appear
How you have lulled the desperate and greedy
How you have twisted the heart of my land
I fear the outcome of those he seek the easy answers
Not like those other parties
Unlike them and yet... ah yes there
Hate of the different just because it is not you

Choose wisely when voting - remember MEP is proportional representation so tactical voting is stupid - you get what you vote for - also think careful about the council elections and who you want running your area and the knock on effects. PAX

Though I don't agree with it, an out of Europe policy is a valid position; I just wish that there was someone to represent my friends who feel this way without all the other baggage. I think there is a minority of those that think this is what they are working for and getting, but evidence is against it and that is sad. I see images of people trying to discuss the actual facts and figures of Europe and it sinks into obscurity due to the racism, sexism and other such topics. They do not have anyone to represent them in reality and that is wrong.

Of course there isn't really anybody to represent me and Al either, and here we hit a crux of politics - are we voting for parties or people?

If it is a party then I want a big list of all the parties and policies and to pick what I want from that - if it is people then what they do and say is incredibly important and the idea that their words and actions are not party policy becomes void, especially if they say something or do something and retain their position of power.

Given the choice I personally would probably go for Pirate Party, Green, TUSC (trade unionists and socialist coalition followed by lib dem - this is from having been lib-dem/green depending on what the vote was for and who was on offer. Sadly my choices are very limited and options here seem to be lots of far right groups, which frankly scare me.

I think if UKIP had turned into the party that was planned, then I wouldn't be worried, but that is not what I am seeing - I am seeing xenophobic, racist, sexist, homophobic view and hate of the vulnerable and different.

And that is without the privitization of the NHS and business practices - of course, I concede that privitization of the nhs is a valid political standpoint; just not one I agree with.

And of course the big three (Conservatives, Labour and Lib Dem) are not innocent at all in this - they have candidates and councillors that have said awful t hings, though they tend to lose their positions (of course the media could be covering stuff up and running a smear campaign but actually they seem to have been mostly supporting UKIP and so on. We have been astonished that there have not been any balanced pieces with the upcoming elections.).

Politics, like everything else, depends on your own story as to what you see - people can see the same interview and get different things out of it. One side sees a victory, the other evidence of bullying and so on. It is a mine field - I just wish people would actually think for themselves - go and research and think and look at their own biases - and we all have our own.

A hundred years ago women were still dying to allow me the vote - something which at least one UKIP member would have taken away.

Personally I want to stay in Europe, for human rights reasons - ie maternity leave, holiday pay etc... and I believe it can work for economics too - happy workers are hard workers (some tweaking is often needed depending on job type etc... but it pretty much holds.) And even with the risk of those I urge to vote, even voting UKIP. I will still do it as I believe voting is important (even if voting methods and politics in general have huge flaws).

At the same time I am actually sick of political canvassing - I think it kind of shouldn't be allowed - that there be one website that contains the policies (in accessible ways so explained in videos etc...) of ALL the parties. One day I had the BNP, UKIP and British Democrats in a row - this then caused me to snap at the little old man who was with TUSC who's policies I quiet like - canvasing fatigue I'm calling it!

Of cause there is the apathy issue in the UK were politics is concerned as well and therefore how you would get people to actually go and look.

I actually don't really have much of a point in this post other than - go and vote, think about who you are voting for though especially with Europe stuff as it is proportional representation and so there is no protest vote - you get what you vote for. Also though UKIP in general scare me, I feel sorry for the minority who seem to actually be trying to discuss political points and get derailed both within and without and those drawn to the party inside and outside of London seem to vastly differ.

ie political representation in this country sucks as does the actual voting system, but please still vote.

The scariest thing I've seen so far was the BNP youth video - truly scary - I kind of don't want to put it on here - even if it turns out I agreed with one policy :/

This is me looking at everything with the coolest, rationalist head I have - emotionally I want to just rage about Nazi attitudes and scapegoats.

Other good articles on voting:

Go Vote Dammit

Voting For Tomorrow

Coping with the Allotment (by sarah)

We have been working hard this weekend on the garden and allotment stuff.

This week we finished preparing the ground for some lettuce and one of the other people at the allotment gave use some braccias to plant and we popped in some purple sprouting broccli too 🙂

I de-thistled and nettled most of the site - Jeany picked dandelion flowers, lemon balm and a whole bag of dandelion leaves for the rabbit and chickens.

Al's pelvic has gone on the wonk again so basically we both need to have provisions in place to do physio whilst at the allotment - we seem to be managing though with lots of breaks and sit downs and what have you.

The major test of the weekend though was finding out if it was wheel chair accessible for our friend who was staying - the answer is YES (during the summer anyway - it wont be in winter though). But it means I can take my mum there and have picnics inbetween the allotmenting 🙂

It turns out there are redcurrent bushes in amongst the raspberries and they are already covered in fruit ready to rippen 🙂

The raspberries are looking good too - still at the flower stage at the moment but you can just see the fruit beginning to form 🙂

I found some love little mini mini flowers nestled in the stuff I was weeding - some where orange:

And some where pink:

We also dug up some leeks, more spring onions and harvested more asparagus 🙂 These are all from who ever had the plot before us - as are the fruit bushes 🙂

We spent about 5 hours there on Sunday all told and I took this photo of Al - he was moving too fast so I chopped the bottom of a foot off with the framing and took it on the wrong setting but I still think he looks epic 🙂

We also discovered that though the runner beans are sadly gone the broad beans I planted in the spare space amongst them have grown so I weeded the bean tee-pee section and planted more beans to crop after the lot I started off in the house. We also gave up on the sweetcorn, weeded that bed and sowed baby sweetcorn in the space - we shall see.

The radishes are already sprouting too 🙂

On Saturday there was mainly enjoying ourselves but I did spend a while sorting the garden whilst Alaric was in London - I have flowering strawberries - the ransoms and garlic chives have also gone into flower but then I am about to put them in a bigger pot in the hope of getting a good lot of them so that is ok 🙂

I also have a good lot of potatoes growing and potted out some more tomatoes 🙂 Sadly though I think the decking round by the 'dinning room' is rotten 🙁 So that is being added to the to do list!

Jeany was very tired as she had spent Sunday Morning doing a Jujistu thing but she loves watering the plants and her and Mary made a den etc...

Sunshine and a fine time! (by sarah)

We went to the Cavery at Brockworth with our friend Charlee.

We sat outside and set the kids up for a picnic 🙂

After a lovely long lunch in the sunshine, Jean started reading and Mary started trying too... escape!

She even tried to climb a tree 🙂

She finally convinced her sister to become a partner in crime and they along with the rest of the kids in the pub garden, jumped the fence into the field - the field used to be open via a gate, this is the first time we've been there and they haven't been able to just stroll in!

The weather was glorious and I knitted and chatted and took photos 🙂

It was an epic day.

Moping, Tori Amos and Death (by sarah)

Post is not about suicide honest!

I am sitting here moping around in a hello kitty onsie listening to Tori Amos and reading a graphic novel called Death written by Neil Gaiman. I have lots of stuff that needs doing but it is the weekend and I have already done a huge chunk of domestic stuff this morning.

I am trying to frame my thoughts, to prepare them for some comic book art later today. I haven't worked on the comic since Monday and I need to work on Cuddly Science as it now has a second booking. The issue is I am feeling very nervous about all of it - about my own capabilities and talents.

Alaric normally boys me up with this sort of thing but he has gone to London today and I am missing him and am also feeling strangely alarmed that I have been with him for over a third of my life. I wrote this and I think I may end up constructing him a poem out of it at some point - I posted the first bit on twitter and then when I put it on Facebook it grew - he liked it which was a relief 🙂

I don't like my men to be beefcake - oh no I like them to be nut roast.
I also like my coffee like I like my men - white, sweet and tall preferably with caramel but I'll put up with vanilla, decaf but not weak
Must also have dodgy dress style and be able to be cast as an elf in LoTR
Add in the brain power and the essential we must be FRIENDS and I think it's a good job I found Alaric Blagrave Snell-Pym
Next month is 10 yrs of marriage, I've been with him for over a 1/3rd of my life - this morning I felt this was an insane fact - now feeling lonely as he's gone to the big smoke and the girls are playing on their own and the cats have gone out

I am annoyed with myself and project jumping - true I get the projects finished but it takes longer than other people as I'll focus on one thing for six weeks and then jump to another project. They tend to be the same projects that I flit between but it means instead of getting a finished thing and then moving on, I get three things all finished at the same time.

This is not the best tactic for several reasons - firstly there is only so much of my stuff everyone is interested in and I need to give each one a far chance and not over load people and what I do is kind of the worst of both worlds. What I should do with my varied focus and projects is do a bit of each, each day or week to keep the skills honned or to just learn the skills do the project and then move on to the next thing. What I actually do is spend 6 weeks on something, the first week or so being me remembering what it is I was doing with the project/cleaning the rust of my skills.

And at the same time of course I can't actually focus on what I want to for those 6 weeks as there are workshops, performances, stuff I've promised to people, kids and animals and health problems.

Alaric doesn't see my way of working as a problem but I also get incredibly distracted once I am in the 'zone' with a project and start to resent time not spent on it. He says this is just how my brain works.

I am also being mentally hungry at the moment - I want new things and everything seems to just be combinations and reiterations of what's gone before (yes I know its the combinations that make things new, it's just the way I feel at the moment). This goes for books, films and music - I found Tori has produced a whole new lot of music since last I looked hence the morning marathon!

At the same time I feel incapable of learning at the moment - my mind just flits away or I forget what I was doing, like the first half of the instructions etc... this happens if I don't get to focus on a project, it's like my mind can't hold anything else - I obsess about a project but only for a limited amount of time. I think that is why things like NaNoWriMo appeals to me so much - they fit in with how I'm happiest working and so far I've gone back repeatedly to the same project but that means my life has to worked out on an annul basic and not weekly/monthly etc... and EVERYTHING is long term :/

I'm feeling elated and panicky about performances and fear that I'll stop coming up with ideas.

It's kind of bizar. Also I seem to have lost the ability to sing in front of anyone :/ Just thinking about it makes my throat clam up - my solution to this is that I am dam well going to start singing again - some way, some how. I fear it will affect the way I do my performances as well so I have been making myself practice the guitar and have attempted to learn the Let It Go song from Frozen - it seems to kind of be helping.

And...

One blog post without a focus - I love Tori's music and I love Neil's work and this entire thread of thought was sparked by 'oh look I'm reading him and listening to her and they are at the British Library together today looking at comic books - ooo comic books wasn't I doing something with that... or was it a song I was supposed to be recording?'

Now I am off to spray the chickens as one of them is being naughty and pecking the others :/

The Punk Shaping Up (by sarah)

I've been working on The Punk comics as well as being insanely poetic recently! Yesterday I worked on the emblems or symbols or crests that each of the main characters has. Punku emblem needed to represent eternity so it is a pheonix spirally - this shows the concept of renewed hope and immortality etc...

It can be simplified to a simple spiral as a short hand or signature. The rest of the emblems are along similar lines.

I am currently working on the outfits/costumes and considering what the exact style is going to be. Anyway her is the process from pencil sketch to coloured emblem. I haven't cleaned it up digitally yet and it is the first attempt.