Diary moves!

I've decided to move this blog over to Wordpress. Bit frustrated with the lack of choice when it comes to snazzy templates, and Wordpress looks more profesh I think.

So the new URL is http://badgerdiary.wordpress.com

Please update all links, bookmarks and blogrolls

Cheers!

Birthday list

So, it's 15 days til my birthday. 15 days til I'm officially in my late 20s. My good friend, Ben Badger has tried to make me more cheerful about the thing, calling it my "golden" birthday (because I'm 27 on the 27th I think) but this just calls to mind golden years, golden wedding anniversaries, etc etc.

So to try and get me in the mood, here is my pie-in-the-sky, never-gonna-happen birthday wish list:

A loooooong gold chain
I wear a fake gold chain with some appendage hanging off it most days. It's now gone orange. I'd love a real gold chain that hangs to about my belly button. But they're uber expensive.

iPod
Now, not being the most technological of people, I'm not actually sure which one I want – 30 gig, 60 gig, bells and whistles… Ideally, I'd like one that can store every song I'll ever need (which actually isn't much compared to most iPod owners I know) and can also do radio (something tells me this hasn't bee done yet). I don't really mind about TV/Film options (although it'd be nice to have) because I don't commute any more so don't really need it. Oh, and I'd like it in black please.

Kitten
Sadly, our top-floor flat and rental agreement doesn't allow us to have a kitty at the moment. Plus I doubt we could afford it (seeing as I can barely make my wage stretch to the end of the month). But I'd lurve a cat one day. It'd be a boy (because they're usually more placid than girlies in my experience) and he'd be either black or tabby and he'd love sitting on my lap watching TV (and not mind my ranting at it every so often).

The perfect hair cut
I've almost got it just how I want it. I just have to grow the top back bit a bit and then get the underneath chopped into a bit and there it is. Toying with the idea of dying it bleach blond (like how it was in my earl 20s) but not sure. My hairdresser is keen (but then, she *is* 21) but I worry it'll make me look haggard and older than I am. Not sure a lady (for that is what I am, after all) such as I would suit something that funky since I'm approaching my 30s.

Fear of flying course
That one BA do. I hear it's very good. Then after that…

A holiday in Oz
Always wanted to visit and means I could see my beloved Great Uncle Lex and net-pal-for-12-years-but-never-actually-met Julie Faye.

A bigger flat/house
Of my own. No monthly rent, no not being able to paint/drill holes/have pets (see above). Ideally more than one bedroom with garden (and patio).

An all-expenses-paid trip to Topshop
Money-no-object, take all the time you need, no queuing for the changing rooms, no skinny bitch in the next cubicle moaning that she has to go up a size to a 10. Just me, and Topshop and lots and lots of money.

For the Christian who has everything…

This list of the top Christian-type Christmas presents has really made my day, especially the Christ on a bike.

Uggly Booty

I totally agree with this article berating the hideous Ugg boot. I bought myself a pair of £6 cheap imitation Uggs from Primark last year and I’ve worn them once outside the flat (and that was only because I had such bad blisters on my feet from other boots, that they were the only things I could put on). And even then, Mr Badger asked me why I was wearing my slippers to work…

Uggs are ludicrously expensive, and you can only ever wear them on a dry winter’s day (and how often do we get those in good old Blighty?) They force you to stomp around, and I’ve yet to see a wearer whose heel doesn’t fold the side of the boot over, thus making it look like you’re walking on the side of your feet.

Miawoargh?!

Apart from anything else, this has made me smile today. Thanks to the lovely Badger Ben for pointing me towards catty smiles.

Way to make a girl feel old…

When Mr Badger and I first moved to Bath, we signed up to our local pub’s pool team. We thought it’d get us out of the house (and a good excuse to have a few pints at least once a week), meet new people and generally have fun. A few months later, and MB and I were playing an away game with some new guys who’d joined. The team changed frequently depending on who could make it that week. I was sitting at the table while MB played his game, chatting to the newbies about stuff (as you do) and said something like, “…you know, people of our age.” They ever so slightly flinched and looked a bit awkward… “How old are you guys anyway?”
“18, 19…” the oldest-looking one said.
“Oh right…” I quavered.
“How old are you?” He asked.
“How old do you think I am?” I replied coquettishly. I usually can reply on this t yield flattering results. When I was 16 for example, people said I looked 21. Cool!
“Bout… 32…?” he said.
I was 25.
C*nt.

Another bout of health kick has infected me, and so Monday and Tuesday I went swimming after work. On Tuesday, I was just in the shallow end catching my breath, when these very young girls (about aged nine I’d say) swam under the separating rope thing into our lane.
“No, we’ve got to wait for the lady!” said the eldest-looking child to her little friends.
I looked around for this lady who I assumed must have to be there to help show them how to do lane swimming. I looked back at the child. She looked at me. We waited, both staring at each other for a time.
“Are you guys OK?” I asked, in my best talking-to-kids-in-a-cool-way voice.
“Yeah. It’s OK. You can go,” she said.
“Oooooooh!” I thought to myself as I swam cringing away. “I’m the lady…”
Since when did I become a lady?! I feel like a girl. Gutted.

I know I’m not ancient and I know there are friends of mine who will chastise me for being silly and dramatic and that I should feel lucky to be “still such a baby” (a direct quote from a 34-year-old friend of mine), but I’m approaching my 27th birthday and it just feels so weird.

I said the other day, “Well, I’m going to be 27 in December,” and the umber 27 just seemed so alien. 27. That’s definitely not mid-twenties any more. That’s right slap bang in late-twenties territory. I know 30s are the new 20s, but I still can’t help but remember back to when *I* was a nine year old, and even 18 seemed so old. 27 seemed like forever away. And now it’s here…

Owning up to it at last…

After reading what Five Centres, Apprentice of the Universe and Urban Woo have been listening to recently, I thought I’d be boring and lazy and take a look at my most-played songs on my little Nano. What a load of bollocks. I’m almost positive I’ve listened to No Good (Start The Dance) more time than Girls Aloud’s The Show, purely because The Show is a cack song, and No Good is a spectacular piece of 90s Dance nostalgia (and we all know how much I love my 90s Dance nostalgia).

So here’s the top 25. Don’t believe a word of it, OK? I’m way cooler than it makes me out to be (and I swear I’m not a mental Girls Aloud fan).

Jump, Girls Aloud
Biology, Girls Aloud
Sound of the Underground, Girls Aloud
It’s the Beat, Simian Mobile Disco
I Don’t Feel Like Dancing, Scissor Sisters
Lucky Star (feat. Dizzee Rascal), Basement Jaxx
Push The Button, Sugababes
Go Crazy (feat Majida), Armand Van Helden
Something Kinda Ooh, Girls Aloud
Ooh La La, Goldfrapp
Theme From S’Express, S’Express
Plus It In (feat JC Chasez), Basement Jaxx
All Together Now, The Farm
Love Machine, Girls Aloud
No Good Advice, Girls Aloud
Superstylin, Groove Armada
Chicago, Groove Armada
I See Girls (Crazy) (Tom Neville edit), Studio B
The Show, Girls Aloud
Diesel Power, Prodigy
Get Me Off, Basement Jaxx
Wake Me Up, Girls Aloud
No Good (Start The Dance), Prodigy
Out Of Space, Prodigy
Pure Shores, All Saints

To be fair, most of these are on a little compilation I made for walking to work, and so I always get to a certain point in the album before having to switch off…

OK. No more excuses…