Things that annoy me about vegans...

Don't get me wrong... I like vegans. But some vegans seem to go out of their way to offend people... My biggest issues right now are...

- Vegans that say they are vegan and then immediately announce how many years they have been; "Oh, only 10 years? I've been vegan 35 years..." THAT'S BECAUSE YOU ARE OLD!!!
- Vegans that eat honey
- Vegans that wear leather/fur/wool
- Vegans that wear non-vegan make-up because it's "the best"
- Vegans that only value other vegans who did it for animal rights. People who do it for health aren't bad people, you know...
- Vegans that look down on vegan pet owners. I can GUARANTEE my collies are much happier living with me in my big house and garden than living in the wild where they would be dead by now
- Bitter vegans. Get over it
- Vegans that go on about how so-and-so are now making vegan candy. Just because something doesn't contain gelatine, does not make it automatically vegan... *cough*carmine*cough*
- Vegans that hold that whiney bastard Morrisey up as the greatest vegan role model of all time
- Vegans that go on about how dedicated they are and then get tattoos with NON-VEGAN INK!!!
- Vegans that think "punk" still looks good. In fact, anyone that thinks punk looks good needs to be slapped
- Vegans that swear constantly in relation to non-vegans. Intelligent...
AND THE BIG ONE!!!
- Vegans that eat fake meat and say you cannot tell the difference. Why would you even want to eat that trash? I thought the point was to get away from meat???

Rant over... for the moment...

Another bad ebayer alert!!!

This one has really pissed me off. A couple of weeks ago, I saw an Anna Sui necklace for sale on ebay. It was a weird looking thing but I like weird looking things so I decided to bid on it. It was at something like £3 with two days to go when the seller pulled the auction. I emailed them to ask why. They emailed me back some nonsense about how they were going to work in Atlanta for a month and so would relist when they got back. They did not pull any of their other listings, though, and in fact continued to list other items in the meantime. Well, today they relisted the necklace at £169. I was under the impression that it was against ebay rules to withdraw sales that were not going the way you would hope. Anyway, they suck. Here is their page -

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/topsales45/

They lie and inflate prices for no reason whatsoever. Up to you if you trust them or not but I know I don't.

Beware fake charity collections

We get a lot of those charity collections in our area (maybe one or two a week) where they give you a sack and label it with the day they will be collecting and then you put it out full of stuff on that particular day and they take it away to help people in need. They are great as it means I can get rid of stuff without having to trek to the local charity shop (who, quite frankly, get more than enough stuff out of me).

However... recently we have been getting quite a few bags from collection companies who use the same format but have absolutely nothing to do with charity. Unless you look closely, you wont realise that they are not a genuine charity.

Today I received one from SHS Collection that had child-like drawings of people on the front and so you automatically think they are a children's charity. On closer inspection, you discover they are not a charity at all. They take the items you give them and then sell them to people in third world countries. It's purely a profit-making exercise. The most annoying thing is where you would normally have the registered charity number, they have a registered company number. It's so offensive that they are clearly trying to take advantage of people. The bags are a total copy of what genuine charities do.

The best thing, of course, is the fact that whoever designed the bag could not spell. I mean, not even close. Did a monkey write it? "Really" and "rely" have two rather different meanings. Durr.

A quick google brought up a lot of unhappy people who have had dealings with this company so do yourselves a favour and avoid them at all costs.

**EDIT**

The plastic envelope clearly says SHS Collection but I just opened out the bag (to cover some plants as bad weather is expected) and the bag says SHC Collection. There is even more negative stuff about them on Google. Dodgy.

My birthday!

So I am 29 today. This time last year, I was burning my butt to a lobster-red crisp at Disneyland. This year was spent in rainy Newport. I know which I prefer...

Presents...
A mobile phone case from my middle sister
£50 of Kindle books from mom
From Kay... candles, a mug, Urban Decay make up, and Boots vouchers
And from my eldest sister and her family...
A voucher for a day spa!!!! I think I will go for a pedicure and a massage. Decisions, decisions...

Sitting here eating vegan birthday cake. Oh yeah...

Our creations...

We had a little jewellery-making party yesterday for my birthday (which is today). This is only a small selection of what we made; Kay and Isobel took their stuff home before I had chance to photograph it and Jemima only finished one piece herself that her sister promptly took away. I will be photographing more stuff later. This is most of my own collection, though. Apologies for the bright flash - I was sorting these out on my bed in the dark very late last night.



Cluster ring. The plastic flowers cost me 99p for 200 and the crystal centres were off an old necklace from the charity shop.



The pearls on this cluster ring were actually found in the road when I was walking my dogs late one night... Everyone took home something using these yesterday.



Some people on Etsy say these look like vaginas... I think they may need to go see a doctor...



Simple pearl earrings.



Crystal earrings. Very pretty in sunlight...



Mobile phone charm that Isobel made for me.



Animal rights anklet. The featured animals are... zebra, squirrel, penguin, and rabbit plus two insects - bee and ladybird.



Flower fairy anklet.



AIDS awareness earrings.



Made by Isobel.



A simpler ring with the same cheap plastic flowers. I like them.



These were actually inspired by a pair of Tarina Tarantino earrings. I prefer my version as they are more subtle.



Isobel made me these for my birthday.



Chinese symbols with flowers earrings. Nice and easy.

Kay learned a valuable lesson today...

Namely that you should not run through my garden in the rain in order to watch frogs having sex in my pond...

Cardiff Freecycle can officially fuck right off!

I decided to have another bash at Freecycle (even though I hate it beyond belief - see my other posts). I have 5 sacks of bedding and a settee to get rid of so I registered a brand new account and posted. 48 hours later, they still had not approved my messages. Others who had posted after me got approved. To test them, I registered another account and posted a totally pointless want ad and that got approved but still not my two offers. Just shows how stupid the mods are. I am officially through with Freecycle and I will make sure everyone knows what post Nazis they are. I've never done anything wrong on there; just defended myself when I was being stalked. They suck.

Newport

I live in a small village between Newport and Cardiff. I work in Cardiff but as my sister and her family live in Newport, I do most of my shopping there. It's beginning to... suck... mightily...

They have been working on regenerating the city centre for quite a while now and they were doing up the main shopping centre with promises of major department stores (such as Debenhams) coming in; we currently have only one department store - Wildings... it is awful and purely aimed at old ladies. Seems now that Debenhams have decided Newport do not deserve their overpriced home wares and clothes that don't fit. The shopping centre is being overtaken with cheap shops. We've got Wilkinsons (great for the odd item but the quality is just not there), a Poundland, a cheap jewellery shop (I forget the name), a Peacocks clothes store, a discount beauty supply store (again, the name escapes me), and then TopShop, Evans, and Claire's. It really sucks. In my opinion, the mall ought to have quality stores with a range of different prices, not just cheapo old tat. Also, half of the shopping centre is still closed down so you go in and can't help thinking maybe you should not be there...

You go out one end of the shopping centre and you have a massive hock shop and charity shop row. A bit further to the crappy red-neck bars and then you are in the part of Newport you go to if you want to watch people getting beaten and shot in the street.

Other exit out of the shopping centre brings you to John Frost Square. There used to be a large clock that would collapse and have angels and devils come out of it on the hour but that is long gone. Now there is a Subway (not a good one though), a clothing outlet store (everything is small with weak seams and see-through material), and a veggie store but, again, quality has been totally bypassed.

Through the underpass where the buskers play and you have to tiptoe through the pools of last night's urine and vomit. Down the very steep, slippery slope to the Chinese herbalist (the one thing I actually like about Newport), then more charity shops, a Beanfreaks whose staff actually laughed at me when I enquired about chewable multi vitamins suitable for vegans, another pound shop, the entrance to the market, and an adult book store. Beyond that is seedy clubs and tattoo parlours (I love tattoo parlours but not seedy ones).

Back to John Frost Square. Head up the alley and you pass a chippy, another cheap clothes store, and a camping store that seems to get no business. Onto the main shopping street. The road actually slopes inwards so it is super dangerous when it rains. On this street we have a Boots that does not stock Urban Decay, pound shops, a WHSMiths that charges twice as much as Amazon, a tiny Accessorize, a tiny Monsoon, BHS, M&S, HMV, even more pound shops, and more cheap clothing stores.

Throw in super cheap make up shops, more bars, employment agencies with nothing available, and betting shops, and that's our town.

It's crap.

Newport used to be lovely with some great little quirky stores but it's just cheap cheap cheap now. Nothing good, nothing nice.

We do have out of town shopping centres (TKMaxx, Tesco, Asda, The Range, Outfit, etc) but you cannot get to them unless you drive.

Kittens...

My niece would like me to say she is actually unwell... Jasmine the kitten.



Jett the kitten asleep on my shoulder.

My sister got two little kittens for her kids and they are the most adorable little beasts ever. Jasmine ran up and licked my face and Jett immediately fell asleep on my shoulder. My cats were feral so I didn't even meet them until they were about 5 months old so I have never interacted with such young cats. They are lovely. I have put my name down for two from the next litter (they are about 3 days old right now).

Let's play stalker!

I don't do this very often any more because I am far too busy with work/uni/naughty collies/planning vacations/writing books/etc.

I quite fancy finding Vaguif Khamdoulaev though...

I first discovered Vaguif when my roomie dragged me to see the Moscow State Circus in Swansea in March 2003 (just before my 22nd birthday; I got home to discover war had been declared on Iraq... I wont start on that one though...). Me and Sarah-Jane totally perved on the poor guy. I do like hot Russians, you see. I saw the circus a few more times and kept track of what he was doing until I think early 2008 when the high wire act was dropped from the UK tour (shame!). I have various TV appearances on video (stalker...) plus I have read every single article on google.

However, I have not been able to track his whereabouts since then. I know he was in a TV soap in Venezuela (?) called Angelica Pecado years ago. There are clips of it on You Tube but I am yet to find his appearance as I just can't sit through it. I also know his dad at least used to live in Swansea; I would see him jogging on the sea front when I was running my old collie sometimes. I've checked the electoral register and nothing on him since 2007, though. His little brother was at Swansea uni the same time as me (he was in his first or second year while I was doing my Masters).

Hey! I take my stalking seriously...

Anyway, I was bored and just found a twitter page that has a tiny chance of being him

- http://twitter.com/xerciks

This would mean he is living in South America (he was born there).

I would like to know if he is back to acting or still doing hire wire. Also, even though I have never actually seen him act, I just know he would be perfect for my screenplay that I am hoping to get made into my first movie in Japan. He's my Valentino.



Of course, if he likes pale Welsh girls with an obsessive compulsion to collect Betsey Johnson shoes and Urban Decay make-up, that could work too...

Facebook Rape

This is a whole new name for me but we have been doing this for years...

I work in a large office and yesterday one of the boys came back from lunch all giggly. I asked him what he had done and he said he was in the pool room and some boy had left his facebook page logged in on one of the PCs so my mate proceeded to post "I like big cocks" to all of this guy's mates. We then found out whose page it was (he's a miserable bastard) and ensured everyone knew before home time. I hope it was embarrassing for him. Grumpy old sod.

One of the boys on my team said he does it to his sister all the time; as soon as she goes out the room he's posting "I can't decide what dildo to get, 10" or 12? Advice please". Or "Thank God for Glade. You should see what I just gave birth to in the bathroom". You'd think she would learn....

Over the years I have had people really piss me off so have obtained the passwords to their social networking sites (MySpace is the best as they have such little control) and proceeded to edit their profiles to say they enjoy the company of various farm animals. It may be childish but meh.

Poor Boomie

He had his butt totally kicked by his little brother for a week straight and then the dog trainer came in and broke what was left of his spirit. He seemed quiet last night and this morning he refused to stand up. I managed to walk him half a block but then we went back home as he kept laying down and he spent the morning shivering and falling asleep whilst sitting up. I had enough and took him to the vets. Turns out he was running a very high temperature due to one of the bites his brother gave him. The vet touched him in all sorts of inappropriate ways (Boomer is not a social beast) and even cleared out his anal glands which always upsets him. Luckily he was muzzled because he would take the vet's face off... He has had to have a shot in the back of his neck and he is on two different types of tablets. He is now sleeping on the floor on my best blanket... as long as he's happy... It's so weird him being quiet, though. Kind of like having a totally new dog.

Boomer was a rescue I took in who had been very badly abused (he had one owner try to shoot him in the head and the second kept him tied to a table for months and gave him alcohol to keep him quiet). I know I indulge him but he deserves to be mothered. If I ever win the lottery, I'll open a collie rescue centre in South Wales as there is currently not one and so many of these dogs desperately need help.

What a day...

I had such big plans. I was going to write 1000 words on my essay. I finished work at 9pm last night and was home by 10. I walked the dogs and then watched TV for an hour. In bed, asleep, having bizarre dreams by midnight... Awake at 5am. Walked the dogs and then went to Tesco. Got some nice little snacks plus a new house telephone as that is yet another thing that has broken in the last month. Of course, I got home, ate some chewy sweets, and lost a crown. I have to drive 45 minutes to my dentist (I forget why we ended up coming to this one but I am too scared to change now). Half hour wait as he needed to squeeze me in short notice. I was given the option of no injection but I need my shots. I was terrified as I normally have to have several anaesthetic shots plus a shot of adrenalin to make me go numb but this one actually worked first time. I refused to take my knee-length military coat off as I feel safer with it on... Job done quickly and back home. Then as I sit down to start work, my nephew shows up with his arse in his hand. He's hitting the teenage years and he's not pleasant about it. We look at house listings in our town, mess around with google earth, watch TV, play on the Wii... However, everyone knew I had our dog trainer coming today (from Gelert - if you ever need help, google them). I really needed one on one work as my dogs are fighting each other constantly and are getting hurt. The dog trainer was great and got my moody nephew involved but it is still extra stress. The dog trainer totally whipped my boys' butts so I am able to have them in the same room for the first time in two weeks. Then my nephew's parents showed up and he had a total meltdown and said I was horrible to him all day (??? Excuse me??? I fed him and played with him. The only thing I didn't do was let him watch the Disney channel because he's 12 and it's far too annoying). He stormed out but it turns out his parents are avoiding him anyway so they stayed and discussed the dogs for half an hour. I've just now managed to find five minutes to actually eat some proper food and sit down. I think I will go play cards on my phone for the evening and rest my aching body...

Fun with dog crap

I have two collies that can crap like elephants. It can't be composted and the council do not provide recycling facilities so it mainly ends up in the bin. It can be fun though...

I live on a private road. It is a narrow cul-de-sac and you can only get one car up the road at a time. Well. some dick head took to parking his huge van at the bottom of the street so no one could drive up. I would regularly be hammering on his front door at 6am when I had to leave for work but I couldn't get my car out of the street. He didn't care that he was inconveniencing everyone else. So one night I am walking home with my boys and two large bags of crap when I see moron has blocked the road yet again. I discreetly opened one bag and smeared a significant layer of puppy excrement on the underside of his door handle. Just so he would have a nice surprise in the morning. He never parked there again.

I had this neighbour who made such a fuss over the fact that I have tattoos that it got to the point where he told all of my neighbours I was a criminal and I should be watched. He was really pissing me off so the week running up to Bonfire Night I collected all of the dog droppings in a supermarket carrier bag. Bonfire Night, I took up residence on his front lawn. I placed the now rather huge bag right in the centre on the grass, took out the largest firework I was able to find, placed it nose down in the bag of poo, lit it, and ran like fucking hell. He was scrubbing the front of his house for weeks...

My favourite incident, though, has to be the time I was walking the dogs at 11:00 pm one evening. It was a Friday night and I was tired after a long day in work. There is a grassy area a few blocks from my house and one of the dogs performed on it. Of course, I cleared it up with a Morrisons bag. As I bent over, a car full of young men drove by with them all yelling and honking. I don't like that kind of attention. I flipped them off and then carried on the walk. A few blocks later, the other dog stopped to perform also. As I was clearing that up, I heard the same ropey old car coming up behind me. Before they had the chance to start, I flung the original bag of dog crap with all my strength against this car windscreen. Evidently Morrisons bags are not as strong as they used to be and it exploded, leaving a rather impressive splash across the guy's car. Him and his mates immediately jump out of the car, looking for trouble. I turn into psycho killer and start screaming and threatening them. My overly protective puppies also join in and the lads run away with their tails between their legs and their windscreen wipers going like crazy. I don't think they will be bothering anyone anymore. I shouldn't have to waste valuable dog crap on common Newport boys, though...

ebay nutjob alert!!!

I bought a Red Or Dead handbag off ebay a couple of weeks ago. Aside from the fact that the seller exhibited her excellent interpersonal skills by demanding instant payment on an auction listings (you actually have 7 days to pay under ebay rules), the seller grossly overcharged for postage and then sent a stained, filthy, MOULDY handbag! There was a massive (I hope white wine but it could well have been urine) stain on the front and then the inside was absolutely caked in mould. I emailed the seller to say I was unhappy and she ignored me. I then left factual negative feedback. Seller then turned into your average serial puppy-killing psycho. She sent me a long tirade in which she admitted she hadn't bothered to clean the bag before mailing it but as I got it at a bargain price, I did not deserve a clean item! ebay violation right there. So then she calls me hormonal because I don't like rotten old crap being mailed to me. I post follow up feedback that the seller is a little bit unhinged and is harassing me. She then uses the ebay email system to send me a threat to post all my personal details on her listings!!! Is she insane? I genuinely think she is. This morning I found she had left a positive-negative feedback for me which is her fourth ebay violation in this transaction (I hope we have all been keeping track!). She says I am a horrible person but she is the one that mailed MOULD to someone! Dirty woman.

I am fairly sure that mailing mould is against the law. I actually took the case up with environmental health yesterday and they are looking to prosecute the psycho. This is going to get very interesting.

For ha-has I had a look through some of her listings. Now, I don't want to offend anyone who struggles with spelling or grammar but OHMYGOD she sounds like a moron. She had a listing for a debt collection agency her old man runs (another dodgy alert right there) and it is supposed to be a professional business but she cannot spell even basic words correctly and it is almost as though an 8 year old wrote it for creative literature class. I hope no one actually uses that business because if they cannot even present themselves in a positive light, how are they going to represent you to the public?

Anyway, here is her ebay link -

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/69baillie/

Check out her picture. I assume she thinks she looks glamorous. That whole "man-in-a-dress" look just doesn't work for me, though...

I do hope she googles herself and finds my post (I will not email her as I worry about my computer being contaminated with her filth).

To 69baillie from Belfast - you are making yourself look like cheap trash with your behaviour. That kind of bitterness will give you cancer. Get over yourself. And stop selling mouldy crap on ebay.