stuff

Meme-alicious

Posted in stuff on January 7th, 2009 by admin – Comments

Since both Katy and Elyse have tagged me to do this meme, I suppose I better get my butt in gear and do it!

  1. List five of your favorite bands/artists.
  2. Choose three songs from each band/artist.
  3. If you can find a link to listen to the song at Last.fm or YouTube, post it!
  4. Tag five people.

Firstly, five favorite bands. I don’t know if I can pick just five since I adore music, but I’ll try!

  1. Marilyn Manson
  2. Nine Inch Nails
  3. Franz Ferdinand
  4. Placebo
  5. Darren Styles

Bit of a random bunch, eh? Darren Styles is a bit of a recent discovery, and isn’t my “type” of music in the slightest. In fact it’s far from it, but there’s something about him that I love. Marilyn Manson & NIИ are the obvious choice, but I prefer their back catalogue to their most recent offerings. Franz are just the best Glaswegian band in the world and I could listen to Brian Molko and co for ever on repeat. Just don’t make me do it please!
I’ve also just noticed that I’d quite happily sleep with the lead singer of each of these bands / artists. Fantastic.

  1. Marilyn Manson
    1. Coma White - YouTube
    2. Doll-Dagga-Buzz-Buzz-Ziggity-Zag - YouTube
    3. Disposable Teens - YouTube
  2. Nine Inch Nails
    1. The Hand That Feeds - YouTube
    2. We’re In This Together - YouTube
    3. Closer - YouTube
  3. Franz Ferdinand
    1. Take Me Out - YouTube
    2. I’m Your Villain - YouTube
    3. Do You Want To - YouTube
  4. Placebo
    1. The Bitter End - YouTube
    2. Infra Red - YouTube
    3. Pure Morning - YouTube
  5. Darren Styles
    1. Come Running - YouTube
    2. Save Me - YouTube (Nitelight version) - YouTube (original mix)
    3. Disco Lights - YouTube

It seems everybody on my links list has already done this meme. So I tag anyone who actually wants to do it. Yeah, I’m rubbish like that.

Hola, 2009

Posted in life, stuff on January 6th, 2009 by admin – Comments

I’ve been so darn busy these past few days I’ve not even had the chance to come online this year really, aside from catching up on some Twitter stuff. Apologies, but Happy New Year everyone!

New Year’s Eve in itself was a very quiet affair for me and the boy. Our friends came over to the boyfriend’s house and we played MarioKart all night, nearly missed the change of year completely because we were so engrossed in the game.  Oh well. At least we spent the night indoors, warm and with the people we wanted to be with. I ended up staying awake until gone 5am so my body clock is a little screwed up now. I’m not sleeping til late and then getting around 3 hours sleep before having to get up for work, it’s not a good thing. It’s getting to the point that I’m wandering around work in a daze come 3pm and living on Relentless.
Relentless Juiced!
This stuff is evil. Actually, it’s not. It’s a definite life saver. I got this case in work for £3 yesterday. That’s 12 cans that usually sell for £1.50 each for just 25p a can.. I’m hyper because I’ve drank so much in the process of trying to finish my Management Training Program which is due in this weekend. Completely finalized. I’m tying together bits that are missing just now plus I’ve got one more module to finish, and it’s taking forever. But at least then it will done, complete, over… and I’ll be in line for a promotion. Hopefully.

In other news, I’ve switched from web host from VoNetwork to Dreamhost. No reason other than Dreamhost were running a fantastical promotion and I fancied me some major web space for my various projects. Of which I seem to have aquired a lot recently. Firstly, there’s my Project365 (which ironically I haven’t re-set up on this host), my photography domain to keep my words and pictures separate, web hosting site (which is majorly run by my friend but that’s an other story…and an other online identity that won’t be associated with me), various fanlistings and a new project in the pipeline. Plus my jewellery business, of which the WordPress installation hated being updated and I need to start from scratch again. Oh well.

For now, I’m going to update some stuff around the web, buy my mother her wine of the month and kick back and relax for a few hours before starting on my MTP again…
$

End of the year review 2008

Posted in stuff on December 30th, 2008 by admin – Comments

So tomorrow is Hogmanay (for all you non-Scottish readers, that’s New Year’s Eve).

That means that this is the last time that I’ll post here at AFS in 2008 (tomorrow I’m working til 5pm and then going straight to the boy’s house). I can’t believe how quickly 2008 has flown in to be honest, I don’t know if it’s because of the problems that I’ve had with work over the past couple of months, or simply because myself and my boyfriend have been happier than we’ve ever been (touch wood). I simply don’t know why but it does seem like it was only the other week I was trying to arrange Hogmanay 2007.

So much has changed for me in the last year. I can drive (although not legally as I’ve yet to pass my test…but I can actually drive), I’ve had a wage increase, I’ve moved the store where I work and the world hasn’t come crashing down around me, I’ve gotten myself a bit of a social life, I’ve made new friends, got in contact with old friends, had the haircut from hell, lost weight and cut down on chocolate and sugar in my diet.

In 2009 I’m going to become an ‘aunt’ as my best friend’s girlfriend is expecting their baby in February, I’m expecting a promotion within 6 months and, depending on the economic climate, to move out at some point in the next twelve months. I’ll also finish my project365 on Christmas Eve 2009.

Site wise, I don’t think much has changed to be honest, other than I now use IntenseDebate for my comments. I’ve been posting more regularly and trying to write more about what’s going on with me rather than the internet. I’ve made something like $420 in paid advertising over the course of the year and it’s something that I’m going to be keeping on the site…it’s essentially money for nothing and it pays for my hosting and eBay splurges.

I’ve been in the process of writing my own theme for about 5 weeks now, I no longer can just sit and code away to my hearts content until it’s finished. I miss those days. But I’m using a theme just now that I think I like. I think in 2009 I’m going to get into web design again. On top of becoming a better photographer.

I’m not one for making resolutions, but next year I’m going to try my very hardest to finish one task before I start the next. It drives my boss mental, and to be honest it annoys me too. Aside from that? There’s not much I want to change that’s within my control. I guess I just want to be happy next year…and that means getting my promotion and passing my driving test!

I hope everybody has a great night tomorrow night and that 2009 brings everything that you want it to!

Getting ready for Christmas..

Posted in stuff on December 19th, 2008 by admin – Comments

Ok, I can’t believe that it’s Christmas next week. It only seems like yesterday that it was Christmas last year. I don’t know if it’s because of where I work or not but it seems to come around so quickly and each year it means less and less to me. This year for instance? I haven’t asked for anything really. Sure, I’m getting a DSLR for either Christmas or my birthday, but aside from that? Not even asked for a pair of socks!

I do, however, know what my mum’s bought my two brothers. The lucky sods. The youngest brother has got himself a Macbook (which he’s sitting using just now, sitting next to me. Fair, much?) and the other one has an xbox 360 and 4 games. Not sure why, he barely uses his Wii but I’m sure I’ll be taking over the xbox like every other console we own between us!

Going on this theory, I should be getting my camera but as money’s tight I’m not placing any bets on it. To be honest at the moment I’d be happy with a 10 week travel card!

I’ve (luckily) finished my Christmas shopping for everybody, bar a few things that I need to pick up in work on Saturday. It’s wiped me out funds wise, but I’ll probably just get money for Christmas anyway. I wish I was 12 again and was excited about the big day!

What about you? Are you sorted for Christmas yet? (that includes putting the Christmas lights up Rhys!)

Friday Five (28 Nov)

Posted in stuff on November 28th, 2008 by admin – Comments

  1. What’s a profession you believe to be overpaid?
  2. Who’s a musician you believe to be overrated?
  3. What in your life could stand to be overhauled?
  4. What’s something interesting you recently overheard?
  5. Who is the most overextended person you know?

  1. Generally, anybody who works less than me but gets paid more. I work solidly for 10 hours a day, don’t really take any breaks and get a measly £6.65 an hour. Rubbish
  2. The Beatles. I really can’t stand them, and I cringe and cover my ears any time I hear that bloody ‘Imagine’ song. Sorry, but John Lennon isn’t god and that isn’t the best song in the world, ever.
  3. At the moment, probably my debts!
  4. Aha, if I told you that then it wouldn’t come true. And I didn’t specifically over hear it, I was meant to hear it but not in the way that I did. Lets just say it made my heart race…in a good way
  5. Financially, myself.

From Friday5.org

2.5% What does that really mean?

Posted in stuff on November 24th, 2008 by admin – Comments

So, as of Monday 1st December VAT in Britain will fall 2.5% to 15% from 17.5%. But what does that actually mean we, the Great British public, are going to be saving?

Not much, to be honest.

Going from a retailer’s point of view (that’s me, by the way) the things that we won’t save money on are:

  1. Alcohol
  2. Bread
  3. Tampons, condoms, nappies etc (you’re only charged 5% on these to begin with)
  4. Fresh meat
  5. Pet food
  6. Newspapers / Magazines
  7. Jaffa cakes!!

Basically, anything deemed as being ‘essential’ we don’t get taxed on to begin with so we won’t save money on those. Anything that’s deemed as a luxury, like biscuits, we’ll now save 2.5% on. So a packet of Chocolate Digestives in my shop will now cost 89p, previously costing 92p. The mighty Jaffa cake was deemed not to be a biscuit (i.e. should have 17.5%15% tax on it but a cake (i.e. no tax charged) because ‘biscuits go hard, cakes go soft’ when they’re stale.

Big bloody wow.

Could we not just have a slash of 2.5% in income tax? That would save me £100 a year. Actually, that’s rubbish too.

The only way this will make a difference to me is I’ll save about £10 on my Christmas present shopping, as I usually spend about £250 at this time of year. So that’s £10 that’ll go on cigarettes or something, which will kill me quicker and increase my chances of needing the services of the NHS! I hope Labour know what they’re doing…

do you remember when?

Posted in shopping, stuff on November 13th, 2008 by admin – Comments
  1. Websites had version numbers in the titles - like AshesFromStars.com version 26 - punkrawk!
  2. Everybody had plugboards in their sidebar?
  3. We all felt rather The current mood of ashesfromstars at www.imood.com?
  4. It was mighty important to tell your visitors what you were currently wearing, drinking, eating, watching, thinking…
  5. Greymatter and Bravenet guestbooks ruled the ‘net
  6. Speaking of sidebars, why did we have them 100px wide with 6pt justified text? Or was that just me?
  7. Scrollbars were coloured to match layouts, especially when they were for an iframe
  8. exotic backgrounds included black and white grid boards and punky photoshop brushes yanked from LiveJournal icon communities.
  9. We didn’t use words for navigation, preferring to use 001, 002, 003, 004, 005 with no title tags instead.
  10. TodaysDomainOnline.com was the place to plug your site?

Needless to say, I just found one of my old websites and cringed.

For example:
reviews.chemical-69.org
hellodarling.org
sparkling-stars.co.uk

lookiez I made a layout for glowenshi and it bloody well rocks! I love it love it love it love it love it! hehe…it’s totally, and utterly….well go see for urself anf sign da gbook while ur at it! hehe
xox

- sparkling-stars.co.uk blog entry from August 03 2001.

I will go silently and die of embarrassment now.

Happy Halloween!

Posted in stuff on October 31st, 2008 by admin – Comments


WordPress Pumpkin, originally uploaded by Eric M Martin.

Pumpkin
Smiley pumpkin, originally uploaded by Mini Pixel

pumpkin 2006Originally uploaded by Kristofor808

EX-TER-MI-NATE!

Since I’ve not got any skills whatsoever in carving pumpkins, I thought I’d just post about the best ones that I’ve found on various blogs that I visit
The WordPress one wins by far, though.

I want this bag, please?

Posted in stuff on October 15th, 2008 by admin – Comments

Need I say more? I need this bag.

New job x2

Posted in stuff, £10 a day on October 8th, 2008 by admin – Comments

So, as it turns out my new shop isn’t half as bad as I thought it was going to be, and the staff seem alright too. Obviously I’m still settling into my new job but it’s been a good week, if not a hell of a lot busier than I’m used to and I miss the boys so much! It’s weird not seeing them everyday. Really weird.

(Un)luckily for me it has been decided that the main area that is going to be concentrated on within this shop for the next couple of months is the newspapers and magazines and that I’m going to be the one doing so. I don’t mind dealing with them and the new procedures are exactly what’s needed so I can’t wait to get right into it and prove that I can turn the sales and waste around. They’re a big problem in most of the stores, so I’m led to believe, so it’s great being involved in something that obviously can bring in more money to my store - and hopefully others that are having the same problems. Plus it means I can do things my way, to a degree, and have something to concentrate on in the store.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s lots wrong with the store and the problems are being ironed out one by one and it’s taking time. My new manager is an excellent one, and has been with the company for a long while so I’m really looking forward to learning everything that I can from him. But, I do miss my boys, I can’t see me being the same with my new work mates.

The hard work that I’ve put in already is having a fantastic effect on my health - I’m down to smoking between 5 and 10 cigarettes a day because I only smoke about 2 cigarettes when I’m at work due to not having cigarette breaks and, weirdly enough, being in an environment where food is being cooked (the shop has a hot food to go takeaway) is the best appetite suppressant in the world. After smelling the bacon and sausages being cooked in the morning is actually putting me off of eating until I get home and have a big, healthy dinner. And promptly fall asleep at 8pm, waking up at 5am the next day!

I’ve also sort of picked up another job on top of my ‘real’ job - making money online. Regular visitors of this blog will be aware that I’m trying to net myself an extra £10 a day throughout October by any means possible online and I’m doing not too bad so far. I’ve raked in $32.49 through Amazon’s MTurk, £47.50 through Quidco (although I won’t count this until the money’s actually in my account) and so far I’m at £30 from paid blogging and I’ve still to list items on eBay - and I have loads for stuff to list! I’ve also come across some great websites listing freebies that I can get my hands on too - hey, anything you can get for free is ok in my book.

One such website, absurdly cool freebie finder, gathers freebies from other websites and lists them each day and offers users the chance to rate and comment about the freebies on offer - and it’s awesome. Today I’ve bagged myself 2 cosmetic samples and some ice cube trays (right ok, I don’t need ice cube trays but they’re always handy to have in the kitchen for impromptu parties). The design of the site isn’t perhaps the best in the world, nor is it the worst, but I get my updates through my RSS reader so the design doesn’t bother me - plus all the offers are separated into the countries that they apply to.

They also have this nifty feature that weeds out the scams so there’s very little chance of you not getting your freebie through the post. It’s such a fantastic little website to follow because you never know what you might get for free one day and there’s a better chance of you finding out about it through this site than if you’re only a member of one freebie website.

e-Lottery Syndicates

Posted in stuff on September 27th, 2008 by admin – Comments

So, did any of my fellow European’s win anything on last night’s EuroMillion’s draw? I won a grand total of nothing. Nada. I had four lines on and got nothing back, which is so typical of me. £100,000,000 up for grabs and I can’t even get the cost of my ticket back.

I would have had much better luck if I’d signed up to eLottery’s EuroMillion’s syndicate.

 It’s a cool system where you’re added into a team of 38 other members and that allows you to play 36 lines in each and every EuroMillions draw, obviously improving your chances of winning and saving you having to pay out £54 each and every Friday for the same odds.

A unique set of five numbers from 1-50 is allocated to each e-Lottery syndicate. The two lucky star numbers are guaranteed in every single lotto draw due to the fact that e-Lottery has cleverly catered for all permutations of the nine lucky star numbers in a strict Mathematical Pattern.

As a result you only need to match 5 numbers to win the massive Euro Lotto jackpot as apposed to 7 numbers when playing the conventional way as a lone ticket holder. You also only need to match 1 of your 5 allocated syndicate numbers to win a cash prize.

From the e-lottery-syndicates.com website

I actually know a few people who are members of this syndicate and I’m really interested in signing up with them, afterall it only costs £5 per week. And you’re pretty much guarenteed to get a return on that.

Book Sale!

Posted in life, stuff on September 23rd, 2008 by admin – Comments

It’s killing me to do this, but I have to. Since I’ve re-decorated my bedroom I’ve got no space whatsoever to store my excess books. Plus I could do with the cash. So I’ve decided to sell off some of my old books…

Number Ten - Sue Townsend

  • Hard back
  • RRP: £15.99
  • Excellent condition
  • Price: £4.00 plus P&P
  • She has an unrivalled claim to be this country’s foremost practising comic novelist - Mail On Sunday


The Tesseract - Alex Garland

  • Paperback
  • RRP: £6.99
  • Excellent condition
  • Price: £2.00 plus P&P
  • Astonishing..A brilliantly structured, surprisingly compassionate novel, disguised as an exotic, speedy thriller Mail On Sunday


Simply Divine - Wendy Holden

  • Paperback - 439 pages
  • RRP: £6.99
  • Great condition
  • Price: £2.00 plus P&P
  • It is rare that comic novels live up to their titles, but Simply Divine is just that The Sunday Times


Sparkles - Louise Bagshawe

  • Paperback - 599 pages
  • RRP: £6.99
  • Excellent condition
  • Price: £2.00 plus P&P
  • Her novels are action-packed, her heroines gorgeous; and her writing punchy…, I love it Daily Mail


Collection of 3 CSI: novels

  • Body Of Evidence - Max Allan Collins
  • RRP £6.50
  • Binding Ties - Max Allan Collins
  • RRP £6.99
  • Cold Burn - Max Allan Collins
  • RRP £6.99
  • Selling all three paperback books for £10


I’ll be continually adding books to this post over the course of the next few days, so keep checking back. Postage and packing covers materials and cost of posting the items to you via Royal Mail. Check with me first if you’re outside the UK, either via Skype (ashes-from-stars) or email (melissa(a)ashesfromstars.com.


What a day!

Posted in stuff on September 23rd, 2008 by admin – Comments

Today has been the craziest day off that I’ve had in a long while, even though I slept in this morning since I don’t often have the chance for a bit of a lie-in.

When I woke up this morning my grandmother was already here (she comes up every Tuesday and Friday) and was ironing all my clothes that I’d washed the other night. I asked her to stop it and I’d finish off putting them away but she wouldn’t listen to me, I swear she likes ironing clothes. She does it all the time even though me and my mum tell her not to bother. She’d also brushed all the downstairs floors and washed the windows. I know I’m lucky that she likes coming up to clean our house, although I do feel slightly guilty about it all.

I guess she doesn’t have much else to do since my grandfather died 4 years ago of a sudden cardiac arrest, she likes coming up to visit us or her sister rather than sitting in the house on her own. I barely have time to see her due to work commitments but I like spending every other Tuesday with her, even if we’re just sitting watching TV together.

Anyway, today we gutted the house before 2pm. Tidied up properly, washed floors and windows, cleaned mirrors, dusted…the whole she-bang. I was exhausted by the end of it mind you as the most cleaning I do these days in mainly in the shop.

Speaking (typing?) of cardiac arrests, I didn’t realise that it was one of the biggest killers in Scotland. I suppose our bad diets has something to do with it, it scares me how many people die so suddenly of a heart attack. When I was researching my mum’s new heart medication I found out some staggering facts - 900 people a day in the States suffer from a SCA and that in Scotland, since the smoking ban was introduced, cases of SCA have fallen by 17%. Maybe there is something to this stopping smoking lark?

My god comes in a wrapper of cellophane

Posted in stuff on September 22nd, 2008 by admin – Comments

The only relavance between the title of this post and the actual post is that the song the lyrics’ from is called ‘Starfuckers, Inc’ and this post is about Starbucks Coffee. Yeah, go figure.

You see, I’m rather excited. I’ve just come across a website selling Starbucks coffee a lot cheaper than it is to buy in their stores. I could drink Starbucks each and every day of my life (and end up loosing the plot like Britney probably since my favourite drink is also her poison - and a quick look on the Starbucks website informs me that a Venti Java Chip Frappe with Whip Cream has 520 calories in it!) and never, ever get sick of it.

I make my own versions of Starbucks Frappes at home, but it never quite tastes the same when it’s made with good ol’ Nescafe so I can’t wait to order some Starbucks coffee to make the real deal, hopefully with less calories than the real-deal.