Flaming Zinc

- You’re too thin and not eating enough

- Sit still a minute whilst I even off your fringe

- Is that new and can I iron it before we go out

Until I am free for the summer (bar work and domestic responsibilities of course).

Tonight I set off for the first leg of the exam world tour 2006.  Feeling pretty excited about the whole trip,  and dare I say it looking forward to three days of intense cramming of philosophies ancient.   It has to be said that I have started to obsess over my summer reading book list, I haven’t read any fun fiction for nearly two months and ever part of my body aches to pick up something other than a school related text. But, I got to keep the momentum going for the last few weeks and then fiction will have never tasted so sweet.

Laundry, revising, House*, then bed.

*Interesting episode of House as we saw the ever caring Wilson in a new light, and finally a little subplot for Chase.

…..abject terror, fear of failure and the citadels of doom.

It is official time to start panicking about my exams.  5am this morning I found myself lying in bed cataloguing everything I don’t know about Greek literature, in the end I decided I might as well get up and try and do something about it. Except I ended up trying to finish off revising my current Greek history topic…the Persian war and how those tricky Athenians transformed a league of like minded city states (or poleis) into their empire (think StarWars and the Emperor gaining control of the senate….sort of).

I lost my lunch hour for studying because I had to go get my blood drawn for the 400th time this year and it took forever. And I have to go back in two weeks time for another blood test this time to check my progesterone level…..

This evening we are off to Lincoln Centre to see John Williams conduct the NY Philharmonic in a selection of his scores. So I wont be getting much done after work and I will be up with the dawn chorus to compensate.

Since it is a repeat episode of CSI and I can’t give an up date on CSI Stokes hair I will try to decode this picture which holds clues to the final episodes of this season. It looks like Brass is the one who has been shot and Warrick is missing his wedding ring. It’s a bit disappointing that the close up view does not give a crystal clear magnification, you know like it would do on the telly, but I will persevere and see if I can find some more clues…

I tried to engage someone at work today on the finer points of Athenian taxation in the fourth century. When I say engage I of course mean pounce as they approach my desk.

- “Can you send a FedEx”

- “Did you know that fourth century Athens had no formal structure in place to track the payment of taxes”

- “No, but can you send this…”

- “They relied on the pride of the wealthy and how paying taxes gave them an opportunity to boast. Not like now, eh.”

- “No…not like now, this needs to go out…”

- “I guess it is because they were able to see exactly were their money was going….a chorus for a festival, a warship or two. And then there was this process of antidosis. An Athenian could challenge someone for being wealthier and get them to pay your tax bill or swap properties..and yes I can send a FedEx”.

I feel like I haven’t been to the flicks in ages, when in fact I have seen a couple of films (V for Vendetta, Inside Man and Thank You for smoking) in the last month or so.

I can understand why V for Vendetta received mixed reviews. Not edgy and political enough for some, and not enough action for others. Personally, I adore anything that contains even trace amounts of Stephen Fry. Throw in a dystopian future, Natalie Portman, Guy Fawkes, Stephen Rea and a selection of other British thesp and I am a happy camper. I am glad that they explained the whole Guy Fawks back story, as that might have confused everybody outside of the UK. I have a soft spot for old Fawks and the very confused way we Brits celebrate Nov 5th. We burn an effigy of him on a bonfire, eat toffee apples, play with sparklers and let of fireworks. So on the one hand we are glad we caught him, but we let off fire works to simulate the burning of parliament cos we Brits are complex!

In the not too distant future Londoners movements are curfewed and curtailed. Shady “fingermen” lurk in a post modern blitz-esque London and even shadier commentators/politicians brainwash the public. It’s all very Big Brother, with John Hurt beaming down to his band of cohorts like Davina gone-wrong. It seems right that Patrick from Coupling is in charge of spin (especially after his turn in Richard II), that Tim Piggot Smith is a very nasty character indeed and poor old Stephen Rea is the brow beaten copper (whose raisin detra is a scene in the film where he sits in his flat and the clock radio comes on and it is a Chris Rea song – how droll). V is the masked figure stirring and blowing things up, he has a mysterious back story and makes eggs in the same way as Stephen Fry’s character – coincidence or not? He gets tangled up with Evey, or Evey gets tangled up with her and a re-education of sorts occurs.

The Inside Man was okay. To a certain extent I enjoyed how the “robbers” set things up and established alibis, but it was all a bit obvious and not as satisfying as an episode of Hustle. It was disappointing that Clive Owen had to wear a mask for most of the film and sported a rather dodgy accent, Jody Foster practically had a golden aura about her and was stunning. I have yet to forgive Denzel Washington for his dreadful turn in the Broadway production of Julius Caesar, so I have nothing say about his performance.

Finally, Thank You For Smoking a satirical look at the lobbying business. Smart, witty and additively entertaining.

Tuesday is now official my favourite day of the week (he’ll be so pleased). My rational behind this is not in the least bit shallow, I am sure if House was on Wednesday or Sunday then Tuesday would almost definitely still be my favourite day of the week. There is also something to be said for peaking early. The high of House carries me over Wednesday and then quite frankly it is all down hill to the weekend (with CSI to give me a little leg up).

Tonight was yet another excellent episode. The House/Wilson cohabiting dimension was given a rest (boo) and we got to see Foreman’s true colours. Morality and doing the right thing seemed to be the theme of the episode. The medical mystery surrounded a girl who had not slept in over a week and needed half of her partners liver to survive long enough to figure out what was up. But, since she was planning on leaving her partner should she still be entitled to the timeshare of the liver and should said partner be brought up to speed. The dilemma that was mirrored onto the team was ownership of an article that both Cameron and Foreman had written up but only one got published. Sour grapes on aisle one for Dr. C. My favourite part of the spat was when Cameron was complaining to Cuddy about missing out on the article and Cuddy’s riposte of “And? Write another article”. The slap in the face that was needed to put things in perspective.

It takes a pretty charismatic yoga teacher to entice me out of bed and into class at the crack of dawn. Bleary eyed and slightly cranky I find myself cross legged on my mat. As much as I would rather be asleep or at least slumped at in front of my mac at home I know that all this stretching and whatnot does me good. There are benefits to taking the earliest class: you get exercise out of the way, can fully enjoy any sweet treats that cross your path and are guaranteed to be asleep before ten am. The biggest plus is that the classes are half empty, unlike the packed out evening sessions where you are crammed like veal.

I was bereft of the all important imported, hollow chocolate oval this Sunday. Around late January I start to drop hints to the individual parental units, detailing which Easter eggs I would like them to snag and export on my behalf. I am a big fan of the milk chocolate Button egg with a few cream eggs (I like to scoop the centre out before eating the chocolate shell) for good measure. But, this year I dropped the ball, or egg, and failed to issue any executive orders. Too caught up studying and the impending exams it would seem. Perhaps when I am back I’ll be able to pick up a half priced egg or six, and have a belated celebration of the coming of the chocolate eggs at the end of May?