It's been a bit of a while, and I suppose a bit of relief for you all. I am quite the whinger, so let's get that out of the way first:

Remember the back-spinal injury thing I had a few months ago? Well, it's back. It's at the irritating stage, but I fear it may soon reach the agony stage. Boo you, spine! I should stab you in the spine!

Yep.

Anyway, other stuff.

Firstly, I rewrote Arthur Nobody if anyone's bored enough to check it out. The reason is that it's my first submission for my creative writing course. It may mean that by Tuesday afternoon I shall be desolute because the class didn't enjoy the puns. I'll let you know how the retirement plans work out.

I got my hair cut for the first time in two and a half years (probably longer, but you get the general idea of that ballpark figure). My model was Lovefoxxx off of CSS [link] , and in truth it's nowhere near it, but I like it.

I like Hallowe'en so much more than any holiday. I think it was because my mother would buy much sweeties and not because I'm some goth kid who likes to dress up as the Crow. In fact, this year I'm dressing up as my beloved Louise Brooks [link] , I got a wig and everything, oooh exciting. Nice to look like dead icons. Of course, I look more like Clara Bow [link] , but fuck it.

Met my boyfriend's father for the first time this week. I managed to neither punch him or come on to him. I call this a success. Hooray! The first time I met my first boyfriend's mother, I happened to be straddling him on his bed (it was a circumstance thing, we were fully dressed and talking, but shit, there's no explaining away that position).

The best bands I've seen lately: 1990s, Guillemots, Maximo Park, The Pipettes, Dirty Pretty Things, The Long Blondes (TOP OF THE POPS), emmm...and some others that I don't recall at the moment. But soontime I'll be seeing CSS and hopefully the Young Knives ("tailors are the best..."). AND I met Fyfe Dangerfield and Jackie McKeown. Awesome. I'm a fangirl, not a groupie, there's a difference.

(It's hard, when writing in this headline style, to express how unexpressably happy I am these days. I honestly didn't believe people could be so happy. I'm beyond contentment. I want to shout from hilltops, but I want to keep it my secret. I smile to myself in the street.)

How are you all these days?