it was pretty amusing to see yesterday that my blog was visited through ‘taking peyote’ as a search term. i wonder how this person found me since i don’t rank for this term at all (well, not in the first 100 at least). last year i wrote a post about cat power vs bat for lashes and i mentioned cocorosie and nico taking peyote together, so it must’ve been from that. riddle solved.

actually, i’m not sure if i can even use the ‘vs’ or ‘versus’ anymore, or if i should start learning to avoid the term and other latin phrases. i’ve learnt form the BBc today that som bristish councils have banned the use of latin terms by their staff, claiming that

using latin is elitist and discriminatory, because some people might not understand it – particularly if english is not their first language.

well, english is not my first language and I feel that such decision is plain silly. latin is not only used by english speakers and i can guarantee you that non-native speakers understand going from london to paris via dover, for example. or should i say, e.g. they understand etc. how do you confuse e.g. with egg??

i don’t believe it’s elitist to use latin. it’s just a matter of having a broader dictionary and having an advantage in a thesaurus competition when you need to find a synonym to ‘through’. the argument that it’s for the good of foreigners is bollocks. latin is not only for english speakers! also, if you are learning english, how about learning a few latin phrases that are used in the english language? i believe they can be found in the english dictionary too!

people need to be aware of other languages and knowing a few foreign words, even if it is a dead language, won’t hurt anyone. otherwise, we’ll be getting more of these:

welsh translation: “i am not in the office at the moment. send any work to be translated.”

source: BBC news

What’s important here is that you WRITE. A lot. 50,000 in 30 days is roughly 16666.6 words a day!

That’s some serious writing, my friends. The creators of the event emphasize the fact of simply writing – letting go of your judgement and just writing. The quality of your work is not taken into account, just the quantity. The important part is that you actually produce such a huge amount of words in 50,000. Don’t edit it, just write! You can always edit in December. It’s about producing a rough first draft, doing that first step in actually putting your ideas on paper.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always thought about writing a novel. But I was overwhelmed by the size of the project and the amount of effort and time it would take to write one. Creating one in 30 days sounds mad, but a strict deadline will surely motivate me to complete the challenge! Plus, there are other people doing the same thing right now, and since human are social animals, having a community of like-minded people to chat with and peek into the writing of others is a nice bonus.

Ha, this post until now has over 250 words and it wasn’t that painful… 6 or 7 of these and I’d have my first day worth of words! I’m strangely excited.

While writing this post, I’ve been listening to Helter Skelter on repeat, going between the original version by the Beatles and the cover by Autolux. It’s just such a kick-ass song! Especially when you need some early morning motivation (like for writing a novel). If you need a moderate kick, listen to Autolux (no offence), but if you need some extra energy, pick the good old Beatles. Just check it out for yourself!

You may be a love but you ain’t no dancer!

hellooo! who took the sunshine away?

i’m really bored of waking up to a cloudy sky and carrying an umbrella around. i’ve recently even started to wear a backpack to work to accommodate all the stuff i need for the day, like an umbrella, yoga clothes and a sweater for the evening chills on the way home from the yoga studio. (speaking of backpacks, i really do need a new one, more sporty, with lots of straps and pockets and other little gadgets – maybe to fit a towel and toiletries… you know, just in case i’m stranded for a week on the tube. or if i decide to be a nomad during my lunch break.)

a boy from ladakhi nomads

(photo by reefraff)

last weekend was perfect: sunny. i took a long walk along the river thames, from my flat to the waterloo bridge through the battersea park to the battersea bridge and back to my flat through chelsea, green park and trafalgar square. i must admit, it was a work out! my legs felt sore like after running and the soles of my feet didn’t enjoy the fact that i chose converse shoes to wear that day. but then again, i didn’t exactly plan to venture out so far. the weather was too nice to waste it, so i just kept walking instead of stopping in some park to read.

i’ve been going on more walks and little adventures on my own lately, since my dear vegan filmmaker is super busy with his film, and not many other people care to just walk around. i love walking around. it’s a perfect opportunity to set your head straight and devote some time to your own thoughts and plans without the distraction of doing something else. (this is not daydreaming while working or while watching TV: you still pay a bit of attention to what’s going on around you.) a solitary walk, especially by a river or in some other remote place lets you drift towards whatever has been on your mind and stay there. unless you’re by the thames between the london bridge and vauxhall – you might want to watch your elbows there.

who knows, maybe next weekend i’ll try out to walk a part of the london loop, from cockfosters to enfield lock. i used to leave in the area for a year and i do miss its silence.

camping, kids! this is the perfect time and weather for camping. all you need is some quality outdoor clothing, a waterproof tent and a warm sleeping bag, and you’re set. and camping combined with hiking is the best thing in the world (after some other best things, of course). add some foggy hills, chilly mountain streams and muddy slopes… and voila! a perfect weekend out of the city.

and trust me, autumn is much much more suitable for camping than summer. if it’s a bit too cold for you, all you need is some extra layer of clothing or to wrap yourself warm at night. but when it’s hot and muggy, all you can do is turn from one side to the other in your tent (these things don’t come with AC and they do get stuffy and hot) without sleep, and arrange your hiking route to include as many creeks as possible, which can be a bit annoying. although if you’re camping in england… summer is just as good as autumn, eh.

with the recent credit crunch and such, camping is one of the cheapest and the most fun ways to spend some time off (it is!). there’s been even some signs of the camping revival in britain. oh how trendy.

and if you need to turn up the heat on these chilly days…

they rule.

CSS – let’s make love and listen to death from above

and by the way, death rom above 1979 rock my socks as well.