Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Jennifer's LiveJournal:

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Tuesday, April 17th, 2012
6:31 pm	I think the Youth of Today gets unfairly maligned. When we got home from work this evening, two boys who were playing out on our street politely asked to borrow some scissors. They then used the scissors to cut pieces of wool to make friendship bracelets and politely returned the scissors. How very non-stereotypical.. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 11th, 2012
11:09 am	Since my last Spring post, winter came back with a vengeance. How ironic. We had one day of heavy snow last week, which through an unfortunate series of events flooded the boiler in my house quite dramatically. Luckily this happened in April rather than December, where a couple of days without heating and hot water was an inconvenience rather than actually dangerous. And *very* luckily, it happened while we were at home to notice. If the flood had started while we were out at work, it would have brought the ceiling down and probably destroyed a lot of our computer equipment before we could have done anything about it. So, an expensive month, but it could have been a lot worse. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, March 30th, 2012
8:44 am	Season's greetings! I'm full of the joys of spring today. Everything seems to be blossoming about a month early and Durham is very pretty right now. This was last month: ( 2 February photos ) By contrast, ( 2 March photos ) These are taken with a camera phone, hence the close-ups. It doesn't do distance shots very well. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 14th, 2012
6:17 pm	Today I'd like to promote my 10-year-old [half-]brother-in-law's Youtube channel. He scripts adventures which his Mario plush toys then perform, and the special affects are well done too. Look out for the ones with "Baby Attack" in the title, which guest star my youngest brother-in-law Max. He's quite cute. :) I never knew there was such a community of Mario plushie storytellers.. (Comment on this)
Friday, January 27th, 2012
8:07 pm	Ah, the drama Legally Blonde has announced it's closing in London in April. Sad news, but it's had a good run of 1000+ performances. Hot on the heels of that is the fuss surrounding Aoife Mulholland (Brooke) coming back from her year's maternity leave to do the last 8 weeks of the show. Her understudy, who has played Brooke for the last year, is very upset by this and has been complaining about it somewhat indiscreetly on Twitter. I think most of her comments have been deleted now. Some fans have got rather riled up, and started pointless Facebook/Twitter petitions intended to make the producers *not* give Aoife the work she's legally entitled to (and, presumably which she *has* to come back to or pay back her all statutory maternity pay?). Others have suggesting not applausing Aoife at the final shows to demonstrate their hatred of her. It's all rather unpleasant. Charitably, I assume the understudy is just upset because this news immediately follows the closure announcement. Musical theatre is such a chancy profession, nobody would really expect one performer to give up 8 weeks' pay (on which she has to support herself and her baby) to avoid hurting another performer's feelings. And it's not like it can have been a surprise: you don't take on a maternity leave contract without being fully aware it's fixed term. If the understudy's contract didn't specify that she could go back to her ensemble role when Aoife returned then that's surprising, and unfortunate, but not Aoife's fault. Anyway, I'm glad I'll have chance to see Aoife in the show one more time. (Comment on this)
Monday, December 26th, 2011
10:00 am	Happy hurray-we're-past-the-winter-solstice celebration! We had a lovely Christmas day here. C's family were visiting for a couple of days, so we cooked a delicious (meat-free) meal and exchanged some very nice presents. I don't know what we did differently from usual but it all *worked* somehow, being left with the feeling that "yes, this is how it's meant to be" rather than just a family obligation to get through. So I'm feeling very peaceful. I hope everyone else's holiday is going well, or as pleasantly as possible! The only slight downside is that I participated in an online forum's "random acts of kindness" anonymous present exchange, but disappointingly didn't actually get anything in return. Which I know is not the correct attitude for gift-giving. But still, it seems like something got unbalanced somewhere. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, December 16th, 2011
12:03 pm	How very festive This morning I've been baking mince pies for a party tomorrow, and now it's snowing prettily. Very seasonal. Now, if only it can snow just enough to look nice but not enough to stop anyone getting to the party.. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, December 4th, 2011
4:30 pm	It's cold today, think there's even some snow predicted for tonight.I really hope we don't get as much as last year. That aside, I'm feeling nicely festive right now. I took my Rainbows to the pantomime yesterday and today I've wrapped a nice big pass-the-parcel for their end of term party tomorrow. :) (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 16th, 2011
10:37 pm	I was right Starlight Express tour dates! Now it just needs to come up north-east. :D (Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
10:06 pm	[placeholder while I think of a witty title] So there's a rumour Starlight Express might be going to tour the UK again. That's quite exciting, but slightly sad when one has to speculate what's going to be cut from the script *this* time. I think I saw it 3 times on the 2004-7 tour (Sunderland, Edinburgh then Sunderland again IIRC) and each time the set seemed smaller and it seemed to have had less money spent on it. Which is quite a sad attitude given that, even on a reduced scale (less than a tenth the size of the London Apollo Victoria set) so many people absolutely love this show. [1] The last UK tour was sold out and had massively enthusiastic audiences for over 3 years. And obviously if it does tour again I'll still go and see it as many times as I can. [1] I think I'm right in saying it's quite unique for being continually playing somewhere in the world for nearly 28 years. (even though it closed in London in 2002 and I never got to see it! Regret.) It's just sad knowing that it *could* easily be more spectacular if they were willing to spend a bit of money on it. The first, and very easy, step would be to bump 3 of the ensemble back up to (secondary) principal pay so that some of the character-developing songs could be brought back in. It just seems ridiculous that some of the best songs were cut so that they didn't have to pay the performers any more than the bare minimum! Instead, they might just cut even more roles. Chris and I worked out that you could, just about, horribly, stage it with two fewer national engines and/or one fewer component (probably Wrench) and/or no Caboose. But it would be horrible. (And yet, I'd still go and see it.) But then, oh wait, they'd have to re-film the 3-D races. That would also cost money, so we're probably safe from any more characters disappearing just now. At least there'll be new costumes? ..Surely? The costumes used on the last tour were old at the time, it must be time to produce some new ones. And while they're making new costumes they might as well go back to the nice skirt + legging London designs rather than the Las Vegas production's inappropriately revealing designs, right? One can hope.. (Comment on this)
Friday, November 4th, 2011
6:54 pm	Costumes again and an early sighting of The Doctor Thanks for the suggestions for "Dreams and Nightmares" costumes. In the end I adapted Sarah's school bag idea - but with pyjamas rather than naked!! As it turned out the costumes were many and varied, up to and including Durham Cathedral, so I needn't have worried too much about finding the perfect costume. It was a very good party. One room was done up for "Nightmare" and was your typical Hallowe'en room, dark and candle-lit with the walls covered in a graveyard print, spooky music playing, a giant spider on the ceiling, thematic food like bone-shaped meringues with a raspberry dipping sauce, etc. The other room was "Dream" and was much lighter and more chilled-out, with confusing music playing, confusing stuffed animals suspended from the ceiling, buns decorated as hallucinogenic-looking toadstools, and so on. There were many more details but I can't remember them all now. The hosts had clearly had a lot of fun with the theme! On another note, I need to share this paragraph from "Mystery Mine" by Malcolm Saville, recently reprinted by GGBP. I've never read any of his work before but this one is set near where I grew up so thought I'd give it a try. It's in the middle of a long series so at the beginning the author gives a brief summary of its main characters, both from previous books and new to this book. One of the new characters is: ""The Doctor" - Nobody knows his real name nor what sort of doctor he may be. Sometimes he calls himself Charles Williams." [sadly not John Smith!] Bear in mind this book was first published in 1959. Isn't that eerie? I'm almost afraid to read the book now, as it might not live up to my imaginings.. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 27th, 2011
10:54 pm	Costume ideas? I've been invited to a party next month with a slightly vague dress code of "Dreams and Nightmares". Anyone got any good suggestions for costumes? I'm lacking in inspiration. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, September 3rd, 2011
11:38 am	Doctor Who: Let's Kill Hitler Finally got round to watching this episode, and it was great! I think it was because for once I had no idea what was coming, so the events were a genuine surprise. It reminded me of Bujold's "Brothers in Arms" in places. Brief thoughts on the episode: ( Spoilers! ) (Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011
7:32 pm	Hello! Every post I make here seems to start with "haven't been on here for a while". Well, it's true. But in my defence, I did go to France for 2 weeks with 22 Guides (and 15 other adults, thankfully). We went to a village called Les Vignes in the Gorges du Tarn, in the south of France near Montpelier. We had a fantastic time, with perfect weather, and managed to fit in a whole range of activities including zip wire/abseiling courses (I stayed on the ground), horseriding, lovely warm open-air swimming, rock climbing, relaxing by the river, and lots and lots of sightseeing. Luckily there was a lot to see.. It's easier to show what the place was like rather than try to describe it, so I've put some photos on Flickr. The set starts here; I'm totally new to Flickr so hope that's loaded OK! The photos were all taken by my mum rather than me, and they're a bit disjointed as obviously I couldn't put any up with Guides in view. But they show you how amazing the area was. Apparently Switzerland 2013 is being planned already..... (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, July 21st, 2011
10:57 am	I wish they'd just use Royal Mail. I didn't think Home Delivery Network could top last month's "Parcel left in safe place: In Compost Bin" delivery note, but they've outdone themselves this time. Earlier this week, Boots tried to deliver a parcel to me using HDN. It included over-the-counter medicines, so the packaging helpfully instructed that it could only be left with someone aged 16 or over. However, I was out when they tried to deliver, so what they *actually* did was dump it by the front door and forge my signature. In full view of the street for anyone to potentially make off with (which, as it happens, no-one did - but if they had, I'd never have known). In the pouring rain so that, by the time I got home, the cardboard packaging had all disintegrated. So basically, if you want to make sure your holiday remedies/suncream etc get to you safely, don't use Boots.. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, July 4th, 2011
9:41 am	Turns out the exam / module registration period is one of the busiest times in a university department. Well, that wasn't a surprise, but it explains why I haven't posted here in ages. But I have been reading so rest assured I've kept up-to-date with your posts even if I haven't had time to reply to anyone. Sorry. :( And today I feel generally buggy and am having a necessary sick day. Does anyone else feel guilty for taking sick days off work even if they are actually, you know, ill? (I should add that where I work doesn't pressurise people on this in any way. So it's probably just a variant of imposter syndrome making me wonder if I should simply Power Through whatever.) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, May 6th, 2011
9:13 pm	This concert looks awesome. I wish all the interesting things in London didn't happen on a Sunday evening. I've recently been catching up with some old schoolfriends, which has brought back memories of schooldays! Now, I'm not exactly being "woe is me, my school experience was awful" here because it wasn't that bad as these things could go. But I'd forgotten how terribly intense it was to be 13 or 14 with the constant feeling that everything you said or did was being watched and judged. And how strict the "rules" of being socially acceptable were (it not being "cool" to be too good at schoolwork; bad at sport; to ask questions in lessons, to be associated with someone uncool etc etc etc..). Seriously, does anyone ever make it through school *without* the vague feeling that they're being judged in a competition nobody's actually told them the rules of? (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011
7:06 pm	I was pretty disappointed with the Dr Who sketch broadcast for Comic Relief on Friday. I know it's just meant to be a light-hearted humorous sketch for charity, but surely they could have come up with a more original humour than *looking up girls' skirts*? (Comment on this)
Thursday, March 10th, 2011
7:09 pm	Census meme 1981: didn't exist. My parents had just got engaged though. 1991: I was 7, living with my parents and younger brother. I was in Transition form at school (yes, it was a rather old-fashioned school) and had just joined Brownies. 2001: I was 17, still living with my parents and brother in the same house. [1] In Lower VIth at school [1st year of A-level study] and a Young Leader with my old Brownie unit. 2011: 27, now living with my husband and a cat (who prob doesn't appear on the census form) in County Durham. Since 2001 I've moved away to university, gained two degrees, got married, bought a house and, eventually, found a job. And I no longer do Brownies, but Rainbows. On the face of it, lots more happened in the last decade! [1] My family doesn't tend to travel much. Since the house was built it's been the same family line living in it, which I'm sure will be interesting for genealogists in 50-100 years to trace. Kind of sad that I'm bucking the trend really by moving away. Future genealogists will have much better records, hopefully, but will have a *lot* more untangling of who's who as the population nowadays shifts round to an extent that just didn't happen 100 years ago. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
7:48 pm	Well, I don't seem to have had much to say for a while. Things are just ticking along as usual here (my dad still has no job but that's moving into legal territory so I won't be talking about it for a while). All at once several of my friends seem to be sorting out their lives in various exciting (and scary) ways, but I'm quite happy with my life as it is just now. So this won't be a serious post. So instead, let's talk about Musical Theatre. *Why* do musical theatre songs change key so much? I'm not talking about your basic "move up a semitone each verse" type changes - I kind of get that, even if I couldn't explain to you why it works. But there's one I'm looking at now which goes Opening - 6 flats Chorus - 3 flats, then 4 sharps Verse - 6 sharps Chorus - 3 flats, then 4 sharps Middle 8 - 5 flats, then 2 sharps Chorus - 2 sharps, 3 flats, then 4 sharps Ending - 1 flat. What is the advantage to making it so complicated? Musically I suppose there must be one - does anyone know? From the singer's point of view it perhaps doesn't really matter if the same note is F in one section and E-sharp in another, but it seems hard on the pianist. (4 Comments |Comment on this)