October 2001 - Sinister - missprint.org

Sinister: my wandering days... part 3
by stacey dahling 24 Oct '01

24 Oct '01

Part two Days 9-21 LEEDS Six hours later, I was in Leeds. KEV met me at the station and we headed immediately to a pub, where we had a pint and a bite to eat and I regaled him with all the gossip. He was really nervous to meet me, but was lovely and we hit it off fine. Then we took a bus to his flat, which was small but really nice and immaculately clean. Impressive. We drank and chatted until late. It was great. Kev is the sweetest thing! The next morning we had toast and went into town. Sat on the top of a double-decker bus for the first time, which was more thrilling than Id like to admit. Went shopping - bought a few books at a charity shop and a pair of shoes at Shelleys for 10 pounds - then went to a BAGEL store (its crazy the silly things you miss when youre away from home for 6 months) and had the hottest mustard ever. Eeks! Afterwards we stumbled upon a great vintage clothing store, where I bought a terry cloth shirt and flashy red track cardie. Kev was a fantastic shopping companion. We got back and went grocery shopping for pasta supplies, as well as LIME CHIPS and SALSA. Um, yeah. I got perhaps a little too excited about that. Anyway we returned to the flat and I made dinner, then settled down to a movie. It was all so cozy and comfortable. Glorious. The next day, Thursday if any of you are actually keeping track, the weather was gorgeous so we headed out for a walk along the canal. Stopped at a wonderful secondhand bookstore along the way, where I bought way too many books. The canal walk was really quite nice. At the end of it, we stumbled across a path and decided to explore. We ended up in on a wide leave-strewn path through the woods and it was beautiful! We lingered a bit before heading back. I took a nap when we returned and Kev snuck out to buy some groceries. When he returned I made home fries, then we settled in for the night with plenty of beer and movies. The next morning I slept in gloriously late. Then I packed my things and we went into town to the bus station to stow my bags and meet MADDIE. The weather was absolutely gorgeous again, so after much hugging and gushing, we headed to a pub with outdoor seating and had a pint. Kev stayed for a bit but then buggered off as we started to squeal and gossip like girls. Poor dear. Maddie was fantastic and so much fun to talk to! We wandered around town, stopping in a few shops. Then it was time to meet Jeremy at the station. He was coming down to go to the Lucksmiths gig that night. At the station, we called Kev and made our way back to his flat, where Jeremy would spend the night. I was to continue on to Sheffield with STOO after the gig. We hung out at Kevs for a bit, then went back into town to meet Stoo and get a bite to eat. Wasnt sure if Stoo was getting in at 7 or 8, but we swung by anyway and ran into him and his lovely girlfriend KAYTEE. Stoo was my first ever sinister friend and although I had by this point met dozens of sinister people, it was still strange to finally meet him. At first we were all shy, but we quickly warmed up to each other and both him and Kaytee were so nice!!! The group of us headed into town to another pub with outdoor seating and managed to have one pint before Jeremy and I left to escort Maddie back to the station. It was a bit sad because I felt like I hardly got to spend any time with Maddie, but I was very glad to have seen her at all. We got a quick bite to eat, said goodbye, then returned to the pub. Kevs friend from work had joined the party and the group of us chatted over more pints before heading off to the club. The gig was great. Jeremy, Kev and Stoo, all huge Lucksmiths fans were ecstatic and chatted with the band afterwards. We watched a bit of the Airport Girls set, then Stoo, Kaytee and I had to leave to catch the last bus to Sheffield. SHEFFIELD The ride was brutal; only 50 minutes, but I was so exhausted and this couple sitting in front of me were so obnoxious. We arrived at about 2 a.m., possibly the worst hour on a Friday night/Saturday morning, since everyone under the age of 25 was heading out of clubs trying to catch a taxi home. We walked halfway to Stoos flat, half an hour away, uphill, before catching a cab. When we finally arrived, I was so tired I collapsed on the bed Stoo pointed me to and fell immediately into a deep sleep. When I woke up the next day at 10, I had to search for a bathroom and living room. Luckily, they werent too difficult to find. I hung out in the living room and caught up on journal writing until Stoo stumbled into the kitchen and made me some toast - with lemon curd. Yum. Stoo and I hung out in his room. I admired his startingly enormous Pokemon collection, and we listened to music and chatted for a few hours before heading into town to meet Kaytee and get some lunch. We went to a pub and then to a few record shops, running into a sweet young listee named NIGEL. Downtown Sheffield was quite lovely, I thought, although the weather wasnt the best so we didnt do too much exploring. We chatted about Seinfeld all the way home and watched a few episodes on video when we got home. Then we headed out again, to a pub owned by a member of Pulp - the Washington I think it was called. It seemed like your average local pub, with all sorts of wacky characters and bartenders, but there were also a bunch of trendy kids. We met up with another Katie (all of the girlfriends of Stoos friends are named Kate, oddly) who was quite nice. She was the girlfriend of MIKEY, who we were to see DJing later at a club at the Center for Music. Two other girls joined us, then a wacky guy who was quite amusing, and a bunch of other boys, including Stoos best friend RHYS. After a few pints, Stoo, Katie, Kaytee, Rhys and I headed out to the club. When we got there it was nearly empty. Gradually, in odd spurts, the place filled and soon people were dancing. We slowly joined them, dancing selectively to a few songs at first, then full force. Rhys sat out many dances, preferring instead to chat up a cute girl who unfortunately ended up being disturbingly homophobic. I seemed to attract an odd trio of boys who looked like the High Fidelity dorks. One of them managed to teeter across the room, fall on top of me and give me a huge hug. By accident, of course. Right. It was all quite amusing and great fun. Mikey even played a Run DMC song, and for that I am eternally grateful. I was sad to see the music stop at 3 a.m. Afterwards we went to a chippy and slowly made our way home. I had to get up early the next day to catch my bus to London. I got up even earlier than planned, showered and watched some TV. Stoo and I hung out in his room a little longer before having to call a taxi and go to the station. By the time I left, it seemed like I had been there a lot longer than I actually had. It had been great. I gave Stoo a giant hug and set off for London. LONDON Another four-hour ride. Not so bad, however, and I was able to navigate my way from Victoria to Pauls new flat like a pro. He was suitably impressed, of course. I talked non-stop for nearly an hour, telling him about all the people Id met and things Id done and clarified rumors (tsk tsk, #sinister). Paul and Nicholas had moved into a new flat together with Pauls former roommate Verity while I was gone and it was absolutely STUNNING. On the sixth floor of a building in North London, the view was spectacular, from every window. The furniture was also fab. I dropped my things in the living room that was to become my home for the next seven days and Paul hurriedly assembled dinner before we had to rush out to meet Jeremy in Shepards Bush for yet another Lucksmiths show, this time with Jonathan Richman. Yay! It would be just like home (Boston area for those who do not know me). We got to the venue, which was HUGE, and sat down to chat for a bit before the show began. It was a terrific show and I was so giddy I bounced the whole way through. Jonathan is always fantastic, especially when he sways his hips and although he didnt play my favorite song (Bank Teller) he did play Vampire Girl and I Went Dancing in a Lesbian Bar and lots of other great songs. On our way back to the tube, we ran into LUCY and two listees named CHRIS and JIM who I did not know. We walked along together and sat together on the tube. Then Paul and I said goodbye to Jeremy and made plans to see him the next day. We returned to the flat, stayed up a bit watching TV with Nicholas and Verity, then went to bed. Met up with Jeremy the next afternoon. We walked around Soho, stopping in a few record stores and at a café to have a bite to eat and escape the rain. Then we went to a nearby pub and had a pint before Paul left to go to class. Jeremy and I lingered a little longer at the pub then walked Oxford Street, popping into a few stores to avoid the pressing rush hour crowd, then going to a cinema to watch a cheesy film. Then we said our goodbyes - Jeremy was on his way to the States to see the esteemed Ms. Laura Llew. I rushed back to beat Paul home, since I had his keys, and met him halfway up the hill to the flat. We walked to a shop to buy some wine and pretzels then headed home, where we watched a video he had just bought. The next day, Paul started his new job so I was left alone to idle about. I ventured out to an Internet café to finally buy my return ticket home - I decided to stay until at least Friday to see a Trembling Blue Stars show and hopefully go out dancing. I booked tickets for Monday. On the way back I went to a vegetable stand and bought the ingredients for a Greek garlic dip I had promised to make for Paul. The dip was ready by the time Paul and Nicholas came back and we spent another night in. Afterwards, I challenged the boys to a game of Trivial Pursuit. I didnt do too badly, actually, amazingly. Nick won, and Paul and I had a face-off, which I won by guessing Michael Jackson on some obscure pop salary question. Wednesday, I headed back into the city to finish seeing the Tate Modern and visit the museum gift shop. I bought two books and another six at a nearby secondhand art book shop. It was a heavy load. When Paul got back, we ordered curry and watched football. It was my very first curry tasting. Not so bad. Thursday, I headed into the city to meet Paul for dinner a brief shopping expedition. We arranged to meet at Leicester Square. I got there a bit early and wandered around for a bit, stopping at an overpriced café to sip hot chocolate and watch tourists. We didnt actually do much shopping since Paul was quite tired after his third day at work, and opted to return to the Highgate area for dinner. We ended up at a pub just around the corner from the flat and had a long dinner while a football match blared overhead. We swung by an off-license on the way back and bought beer and groceries. Then we joined Nicholas and watched a movie, followed by a game of Scrabble. I was defeated yet again. Embarassing. Friday was crazy. I met Nick near his office and we had lunch together at a posh little café full of businessmen in suits eating oysters. It made me giggle a bit. Afterwards, I returned to Leicester Square to see a matinee of Hedwig and the Angry Itch. Stellar! Returned to the flat, hung out with Nicholas a bit and made him a sandwich dinner. When Paul got home, we ordered pizza and scarfed it down quickly before heading out to the club to see TBS. We left an hour early but still ended up being late. We met up with Nicholas again inside. He had come with two girls - Kate and Kay, I believe - and a quiet boy named James, who was wearing a suit with a sheriffs badge. The band members took turns singing as they played a set of old Sarah Records songs then they took a break before returning officially as Trembling Blue Stars. It was so lovely! Paul and I snuck out to the stairwell for a breath of fresh air between sets and watched people go by. Saw the Sarah Records guy and other minor indie celebs. After the show we hung around hoping there would be a Strangefruit dance night to follow. But instead everyone was directed to Track and Field. Nicks crew joined us as we made our way through the rain to the tube stop and the Betsey Trotwood. There, Paul ran into Elenas roomie, whose name I cannot remember for the life of me. He was super friendly however and later tore up the dance floor. Paul and I hung out with him for awhile at the bar, then headed upstairs. It was packed and smouldering hot. There was hardly room to dance. We hung out for a bit squished against a tiny bit of wall space between doors, waiting to be enticed onto the dance floor. Paul chatted briefly with a guy who looked remarkably like MARTIN, but I wasnt introduced. I suspect other listees were there too, but I didnt know them. Eventually, we gave up and decided to look for Nicholas. We found him in the basement, where another DJ was playing 60s pop and soul. There was much more room down there, and I convinced Kay to join me on the dance floor for a particularly jangly song. Eventually, everyone was enticed onto the dance floor for a few songs. It was terrific. There was less than an hour left at this point so we decided to venture back upstairs, hoping it had cleared a bit. It hadnt. But the music was so great we didnt care. We squished onto the dance floor and jumped around until closing. Then we oozed out of the hot club onto the cold, wet street and tried to find a way to get Kate, Kay and James home. We wandered for a bit in the rain, hoping to stumble across an appropriate bus stop. Eventually we gave up and found a taxi company. We ventured into the second floor into the dingy waiting room and Paul and Nicholas headed directly to a pool table placed precariously on slats of wood in the center of the room and cued up as if it was completely normal, while we looked on in fixed stares of fatigue. It must have been about 4 a.m. at this point and the whole thing was a bit surreal. Three games later, we were in a taxi home. We all slept in rather late the next day, except me, of course. I got up insanely early yet again, had some toast and read a book waiting for the boys to get up so I could make them an enormous breakfast. I made home fries, eggs and French toast with a caramelized banana sauce I threw together randomly that ended up being fantastically yummy. The phone/cable guy came while we were eating, and we spent the rest of the afternoon playing with their new digital cable system. Nicholas headed out on a mission to buy a suit and Paul and I headed out to the internet café and for a bite to eat before settling in for the evening to watch Deliverance on TV. Well, that was the plan. But while at the internet café, I ran into Ken on #sinister and made spur of the moment plans to meet him for dinner and DDR. Crazy! I didnt even have enough time to go home and change (I was practically in pajamas). But it didnt matter. I headed to Piccadilly Circus and sat by the statue for about half an hour waiting for Ken. The place was packed with tourists and shady characters, one of whom was determined to make my acquaintance. Scary. I managed to ignore him long enough, and finally spotted Ken. We headed to Chinatown and went to a random little restaurant there. I headed directly to the loo, which was more than an adventure than it should have been. First, I had to walk through the kitchen. Then I hung a left and walked straight into another room where a bunch of paramedics were working on a customer who had apparently passed out or had a heart attack or something. He seemed to be all right, and people carried on around him as if nothing had happened. I continued to the bathroom, and had to pause on the way back as they tried to get him outside to an ambulance, long enough to overhear the mans wife tell the paramedics they hadnt eaten yet when he collapsed. Phew. The rest of the meal was pretty uneventful, thankfully. Afterwards we cut through the red-light district to an arcade with a DDR machine prominently displayed in the front window. We waited for one guy to finish then Ken pulled me onto the machine, despite my protests. I did attempt to do it, but was hopelessly uncoordinated and had to give up before the first song even ended. Ken continued, however and MY! What impressive moves that boy has! Damn. After DDR we went to a nearby pub where sinister types often gather for karaoke, Im told. At the time, however, only the finest STEPS tunes were pumping from the stereo system. Classy. We had a pint and chatted until closing. Then we headed back to Piccadilly, stopping at Burger King for an ice cream and a stop at the nastiest bathroom ever. Ew. Then we parted on the tube. Aw. I didnt even get a photo! Sad. Sunday was rather rainy and cold. I spent most of the day cuddled up on a couch. Nicholas convinced me to go out with him and Paul for lunch and then maybe into the city. The three of us set out with individual umbrellas for Highgate Village and ate at a classy little French café, where we were seated next to two obnoxious yet amusing women who were going on about how they wished they lived in a civilized country like France. Hehehe. Afterwards, Paul and I returned home and Nick went out in search of a suit again. Paul and I watched Deliverance (he had taped it while I was out gallivanting with Mr. Chu), followed by a brutal pillow and tickle fight, which I lost. We lounged around a bit more until Nick returned, sporting a lovely new suit, and suggested we go out for one last pint on my last night there. Awww. So we went to the corner pub and had a few pints while trying not to listen to the horrid piped-in Kenny G music. We spent much of the time brainstorming Halloween costumes I think. We got back home and watched some football highlights before Paul went off to bed, wishing me farewell since I would not see him in the morning. Nick and I stayed up late chatting then said goodbye as well. Aw. So sad! And now Im back. It was so weird going back into #sinister, which was pretty much the same, and seeing all these people I had met, which was different. Eek. And at some point along the trip, when I was in London spending my days alone, I did a lot of thinking and realized it was time for me to get my life here sorted. Strange. Ive been here less than 48 hours now and already Ive rearranged my room, landed an interview for a English-teaching job tomorrow, bought a television from some random guy advertising a moving-out sale in the paper, set up a date to meet with a former professor and had a long, honest chat with my roommate about everything. Tomorrow Im venturing into the city to pay bills, the thought of which previously terrified me, and meet with editors. Its like something just clicked suddenly and Im able to deal with the reality of adult life again. Its like I had reverted into a childlike state before, holing up in my room and spending all my time on #sinister, or reading posts, occasionally writing them. I clung onto sinister as if it was my salvation, as if I wasnt a viable, social being without it. And oddly, sinister is what set me back on track again. Which means I will likely be abandoning it soon. What an odd thing. Anyway, Im going to stop analyzing this now and go read a book or something. Big hugs to everyone I met - you were all incredibly wonderful things. What luck! Its really hard to believe such a nice collection of people could exist in any community, especially an online one, but it does. Crazy. And to the rest of you, to quote my dear soul brotha, Jerry, be good to yourselves, and each other. And a reminder: Round trip airfare from London to Athens on easyjet is only 50 pounds!!! (hint hint) MWAH! ~dahling _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: my wandering days.. part 2
by stacey dahling 24 Oct '01

24 Oct '01

Part two Days 1-9 (for your convenience, run-ins with new people are in caps for easy scanning) LONDON 6 a.m. on a Tuesday morning. 20 degrees Celsius and Id imagine it would be sunny and beautiful if the sun had risen. Athens. I have been in Greece less than an hour and already a cab driver is trying to rip me off. And pick me up, all at the same time. Amazing. Does he think charging me 3,500 drachmas for a 1,500 drachma ride is going to charm me? I trudge down the familiar brothel-lined street (empty at this hour) to my apartment, weighted down with a 22 kilo bag, exhausted. I run for my bed and collapse. I have been traveling since 8 p.m. I have gotten no sleep. My ears nearly exploded at 30,000 miles above Germany. They still hurt. But instead of sinking into a long sleep, I jump back up again and decide to scrub the kitchen clean. It appears my roommate has decided to explode things on the stove and leave standing coffee dishwater to coagulate in my absence. When that is done, I rearrange furniture. I move my desk from the study into a corner of my bedroom. I push the bed up into a corner and shove a makshift bookshelf against the opposite wall. I fill it with all my new books and CDs and tapes, shunning some of my formerly displayed embarrassing titles to the closet. Yay. Now I look somewhat intelligent. Finally, at 9 a.m., I lay down. I wake up at 3 p.m. Things are different now that I have returned after a three-week absence. Its hard to explain, or understand myself for that matter. When I left, I was depressed, restless, filled with silly fantasies of finding a niche elsewhere and never coming back. I had spent the week prior to departure holed up in my room, trying to finish a magazine assignment but unable to do so, eating nothing but pretzels and jelly beans my parents had recently brought over in mass quantities from the States. I was frustrated and annoyed at my roommate. I was even more annoyed at the anti-social misfit I had somehow become. I had lost sight of who I was and what the hell I was doing here. Maybe this isnt the best way to start a swinging tale of fun and adventure in sinisterland. But perhaps it explains my motivations for up and flying to a foreign country to spend a few weeks with practical strangers. I left Oct. 1 with no ticket back. I was going to let fate have its way with me. Or maybe I just didnt want to think about returning, hoping I might not. Silly girl. At any rate, it was quite liberating. So I arrive Oct. 1 after a truly hellish charter flight - four hours cramped between two big men, the blaring sound of propeller and engine sending me into a aural stupor, so exhausted I couldnt keep my eyes open, yet also could not sleep. Then an hour at customs, only to get on the wrong train into the city and end up halfway to Luton before getting off and waiting another half hour for a delayed train in the other direction. After bragging to Paul about my impeccable sense of direction and knack for finding my way around anywhere, I call him two hours late from Blackfriars station. I still have another 20-minute journey on the tube to his place. He doubts I will make it and laughs when I insist I will be there shortly. I finally make it without any further delays to Clapham North, only to realize I lost my ticket somewhere along the way and cannot get out. I walk over and smile sweetly to the attendant, acting lost and dumb and hopelessly American and he just shakes his head and opens the special gate for elderly, disabled and dumb people. I call Paul again and as he comes to retrieve me, it starts to rain and I watch as several people search the ground for cigarette butts. Paul arrives and takes my bag (what a gentleman! Bless him) and doesnt rail me too much about my farcical attempts at getting there. When we get to his flat, he makes me toast and a Nescafe frappe (Bless him again!) and we just sit for a bit. Eventually we head back out to the city. We go to um the trendy place where Rough Trade is located. Oh dear, Im hopeless. Anyway, we go to Rough Trade. Then we go to a pub for a pint. We sit outside and I tell stories of dead pets and near kidnappings and mafia-owned Tex-Mex restaurants in Bulgaria. After about five sips of beer I am loopy, what with not having slept or eaten much for 36 hours. We walk around a bit, and head for a row of electronics store, where Paul looks for a ghetto blaster for his kitchen (since he is SO secretly ghetto). We also went book shopping and Paul guided me into buying some thick, depressing, intellectual books. We returned home with our purchases and had some pizza. Had a mini Snood tournament. Then we went out to meet NICHOLAS at a nearby pub. Nicholas had a lovely accent and was wearing a suit, much to my delight. I was half expecting a mournful, intimidating character, what with all his thoughtful prose and deep thoughts, but he was really pleasant and easy to get along with. A lovely boy all around really. We played on the pub quiz machine for a bit, then moved onto another trendy pub down the road. We all bought a round, meaning I managed to consume three pints by the time we parted. It may not seem like a lot, but for a girl who gets silly after one half-litre bottle of Amstel and who hasnt slept, it was a miracle I hadnt passed out. Paul and I returned to his flat and sat around his living room taking shots of brandy and a painfully strong Greek liquor tsipoura. We stayed up late into the morning talking about life, the universe and everything. In many ways, it was an extension of what we had been writing each other in emails all this time, but for some reason I never expected to be able to voice such things in real life. It was fantastic. Sleep was fantastic as well. There was a slight chill in the air - I had been longing for autumn weather; it was 30 degrees when I left Greece - and it was so comforting to curl up under a duvet and drift in and out of sleep in a lazy way. I woke up early and started reading one of my new books, snuggled up warm while rain gently fell against the window. Mmmm. Then I dressed and got ready to meet DAFYD at Waterloo. I got only a little lost this time, taking a tour of the streets around Waterloo trying to find the main station. Actually, my little walk later worked to my advantage, as I was able to lead the way back to the station and impress Dafyd with my impeccable sense of direction - ha! At least I impressed someone. Dafyd and I met and set off for the Tate Modern, skirting the shores of the Thames. It had stopped raining; the sun was shining and it was perfect weather. I even took off my coat. Daf was adorable and we chatted away. Lovely. The Tate was fantastic, except we only had enough time to visit one floor before returning to Waterloo to pick up JAMES. James was great as well - soft-spoken but not totally shy. And he was practical and decisive and took charge, which was also great since both Daf and I are lost and indecisive. We attempted to go to a pub at the station, but it had stopped serving food, so James suggested we go to Greenwich and have a picnic. So we bought sandwiches and drinks at Boots and followed James to a train. Greenwich was lovely! We headed directly to the park, which was quite beautiful, and climbed to the top of a rather steep little hill to the Royal Observatory. It afforded a nice view of the city, and Daf and James attempted to point out places of interest, but were pretty hopeless as tour guides. No matter. We sat on a bench near the site of many former sinister picnics and talked about (what else) sinister characters and activities. We left as it became chilly and had a pint at a nearby pub. We left at 5:30 - rush hour, perfect - and had to take a random route back, through Canary Wharf - the citys largest skyscraper. We actually accidentally stumbled into the foyer of the posh hotel there - a group of grungy kids in cords among well-pressed, perfumed suits. We giggled and hurried down some stairs to an underground mall and, eventually, tube station. I got back to Pauls a bit late, and felt badly since I had promised to cook him dinner and sent him off earlier with a shopping list. I quickly whipped up some pasta and we scarfed it down and ran out to meet Nicholas in Soho. We walked around a bit and found a pub, where we settled down for the evening and had another three pints. I was practically wrecked by the time we left, and even talked politics with Nicholas. Eek! Returned home, had another late-night chat over wine, got up at 11 and had a lazy morning watching trashy American talk shows and bad British soaps. We headed out at 2 to meet Nicholas and ELENA in Camden. We went to a CD store, where I bought some awful cheese tapes, and influenced Nicholas to buy some as well. Then we headed to a pub to get a bite to eat. Elena left just as it started to downpour, and we left shortly afterwards, running to a bank and then to a record company where Paul had an appointment. We went to another pub, chatted about music and took over the jukebox. Two pints later, I set off to meet the notorious KEN CHU at the tube station. Ken was adorable, of course. He was wearing a red sweater and jeans and was practically bouncing as we said hello and hugged. We walked around looking for a place to eat and settled on a pizzeria/restaurant near the pub I had just left. It was actually quite nice, and Ken treated me - what a gentleman! Girls, beware. We chatted and gossiped loads, then went across the street to another pub, where he bought me my first ever vodka and Red Bull. I was pretty drunk at this point, and as a gin and tonic arrived at the table, I could not shut up. We talked about tons of things, some serious, most not. We left as the pub closed and hurried to the station to make sure Ken could catch the train back to Milton Keynes. We promised to meet back up again at the end of the trip for DDR. Ken wanted to walk me all the way home - did I mention what a sweetheart he is yet? - but settled on a phone call when I got back. I forgot to call, of course, so he did. Aww. I harassed a very tired Paul with my silly drunken chatter and insults, but made it up to him the next morning when I made a fantastic batch of home fries (little cubes of potatoes, fried with onions and garlic and oregano and rosemary for non-Yanks). We watched more bad TV until it was time for me to pack up and make my way to Kings Cross to catch a train to Edinburgh. I got there JUST in time. I am the sort of person who is usually early for everything. But now living on the edge, I was, and it was great. EDINBURGH Four hours later, I arrived in Edinburgh. WILL and JEREMY met me at the station and there were big hugs all around. Will and I walked back to his flat. We sat on his couch and chatted for a bit, then went to the supermarket, where I bought ingredients for dinner and breakfast as well as pretzels (Will had never tried them!) and Jaffa cakes (I had never tried them). When we got back I made pasta with homemade tomato sauce and we looked at photos. Then we headed out to a ritzy vodka bar to meet Jeremy. We sat for awhile sipping strong, expensive, White Russians, listening to cheesy music and watching girls in tight trousers and tops trying to pull. I was amused. Will was anxious. Jeremy eventually arrived, a little late, and we quickly left to go to The Last Drop, a less trendy, more comfortable, pub down the street. I had a few pints and began to get quite drunk and very silly. Afterwards we went in search of a chip shop - specifically for a famed fried Mars bar. We found one, sans fried Mars bars, and got chips and cheese instead. It was the beginning of my new addiction. It was quite a hike and I could hardly walk - my vision was blurred and I was quite bad. We headed back to Wills after a failed attempt to locate Jeremys friend and a short stop at an Australian theme pub where a guy was painting the exterior at 2 a.m. Back at the flat, I got even sillier. There were tickle fights. There were dumb jokes that were somehow hilarious. And poking. It seemed to go on for hours. Eventually, we admitted defeat and went to bed. Will only had one spare bed - a cozy double - so Jeremy and I shared it. Thats all. We stayed up a little longer chatting then both passed out until morning, when all three of us woke up at an ungodly hour - like 8 or something. Both Will and Jeremy were hurting, but for some reason I was happy and chipper and silly as ever. Maybe I was still drunk? Hmm. At any rate, Will and I made toast and honey, watched some television and listened to some music while Jeremy passed out again. Then we dragged him out of bed and ventured into town, stopping at John Lewis department store for an electrical adaptor for my mobile and at a café for some coffee and snacks. Then we made the long walk to the botanical gardens. We saw some swans and considered harassing them, but instead just stood and stared for a bit in a weary stupor. Our next stop was a park bench, where we watched clouds making a menacing approach. It eventually spurred us into action. We wandered around a bit, through copses and into a beautiful Chinese garden. Along the way, I serenaded the boys with my fabulous rendition of old skool classic Mona Lisa by Slick Rick, my favorite rap song ever. I also demonstrated my amazingly high kicking abilities and swayed around the spectacular breezes. Yes, I must have been drunk. As we left the park, I became convinced that I needed a pint. So we headed for a pub in the city and I had a pint and nachos (woo hoo! Something you CANNOT get in Athens). The pint had the opposite effect on me than what I had hoped. I sunk down motionless as a rag doll, so tired I wanted to pass out. I could hardly walk. I decided there was nothing I wanted more than to lay in the grass. I reluctantly went accompanied the boys to the train station information center to make accommodation reservations for Glasgow, then happily waltzed into a nearby park, where I collapsed on the lush green lawn, getting a bit muddy in the process. It was glorious, and perked me right up. Jeremy left shortly afterwards to return to his friends house and shower and things. Will and I headed back as well, and I took a long nap, then a shower. The three of us went out again that night, starting at The Last Drop for a pint or two, then to a chippy for a fried Mars bar (I was determined to try one!). This trip was successful. Woo hoo! But the result was not that exciting. I remembered that I dont particularly like Mars bars in normal form, and it didnt improve much with batter and melty gooiness. But the chippy guy was very friendly, saying he hoped to see me again soon. Woo hoo! Score! Ha. Afterwards, we went to another pub, an Irish one. We packed it in early and parted with Jeremy. Will and I stayed up pretty late chatting, and I woke up pretty late the next morning. Had breakfast, packed, and went to the train station, where we met Jeremy and headed off to Glasgow. GLASGOW Upon arrival in Glasgow, Jeremy and I took a taxi to the bed and breakfast we stayed at for three days and Will remained at the station to meet SUNNYSET RACHEL. The B+B was great. The owners, Kenny and Ann, were super friendly and very Scottish. They gave us a huge room with a double and single bed and a million chairs and asked if we were in a rock band or something. Oh yes, we look so rawkin! After dropping off our stuff, we headed into the city to The 13th Note Café, where Will and Rachel were waiting. We got some veggie burgers and chatted a bit. Rachel was so great! Super quiet but adorable. I was determined to become her friend. GAVIN came in a bit later with Lee from Camera Obscura. He mumbled something and rushed off, a bit stressed and pre-occupied with show arrangements I think. They later came back and joined us for a veggie burger and drinks. Eventually, RICHARD, ALLY and CAREY joined us as well. It was almost overwhelming meeting everyone at once. We switched to a bigger table in the corner near a window, where we sat and chatted for a bit. Ally was very friendly and chatty in an adorable, silly way. Carey was quiet but also friendly. Rich was pretty quiet, but inserted little witty gems into conversation at the appropriate moments. Squished into a corner, I didnt do much but sit quietly and watch. SWEETIE joined us, annoyed at her travel schedule, but still adorable, and then HONEY and LINDA. Yay! I wasnt sure they would show, but was very excited they did! Honey was absolutely fabulous. We didnt get much chance to talk, or even hug, until later, but then we chatted away like birds. Honey was super popular, of course. It was great. We went downstairs for the afternoon Dudley Corporation gig. Met JOSS briefly, who was so sweet and giddy and later did an amazing job drumming for not both Joan of Arse AND Dudley Corp. Amazing really. Didnt meet DUDLEY until later, and only briefly, to introduce myself basically. The show was pretty nice. I spent half of it on the floor, half of it nursing a beer by myself in the back of the room. Had a HARRY sighting, not realizing it was him till later. Damn. GORDON joined us halfway through the set. Afterwards, we all gathered upstairs again at the same table and had a pint to pass the time before the evening Dudley Corp. gig at the university post-graduate lounge. We headed out in the chill drizzle to get chips and took taxis to the university. We were the first people there. The place was so much posher than I think any of us expected. It was quite nice. We took over a huge table and got cheap beers from the bar. Gordon made some new friends with a handful of international students who came in later. The gig was actually part of an international students welcome party actually. We were given all sorts of free things, like raffle tickets, slippery Jack Daniels coasters and balloons, which we of course inflated and lobbed around, much to the dismay of Honey, Carey and a few unfortunate nearby students, who all braced themselves for horrifying bursting noises. Eventually we moved upstairs to another packed lounge to watch the gig. Will and Rachel had to leave early to catch trains home. CALUMN came in towards the end of the Joan of Arse set. He was as silly and fun as I expected and after the gig was over and Gavin started spinning records he proved to be quite the suave dancer. Oh yes. Calumn, Jeremy, Ally and I all danced like lunatics, taking care not to shake the floor too much, however, because it kept skipping the records. At some point, I found out through Honey that my pen pal of four years, Ian, was there as well. So we went in search of him, and found him downstairs by the doors. It was so random and odd! But great! Turns out, he was actually president of the group that kept up the lounge or something, so had to be off doing things half the time, but we managed to chat in between dancing and errands and made plans to meet up the next day. The music stopped at 2 a.m. so Jeremy and I headed back to the B+B. Woke up early the next day, but dozed on and off for a few hours before heading down alone to breakfast, where Kenny and Ann chatted with me and I discovered lemon curd. Yum. Jeremy came down and we hung around a bit, then Ian came to pick us up at 1. He drove us out to the surrounding countryside, stopping at a park, where we took a lovely long walk through the drizzle. There was live traditional music coming from a nearby outdoor concert and it followed us halfway through the park. Archers crossed our path, and elderly people set up watercolor sets all around. Other couples in boots walked dogs and a few children splashed around. I walked through mud and kicked around leaves. It was so wonderful and reminded me of autumn in New England. We saw some shaggy freakish Highland cows, which Ian and Jeremy insisted I pet. So I reached out to pet the forehead of one particularly large cow, and it whipped its horn around to whack my hand away. Jesus. We later walked to the remains of a castle and back to the car around a pond. Then we headed out to Loch Lommand through some gorgeous countryside and had lunch at an adorable pub in a small village. Ian dropped us off in the center of the city and we met up with Sweetie at the bus station and headed back to the Note. We bought some drinks and chatted. Rich joined us and we attempted to play some songs on the jukebox, but never heard them. Sweetie had to catch a bus, so we walked her to the station through the pouring rain, stopping briefly to buy chips and wine. After seeing her off, we headed to Richs new apartment for a game of Scrabble. I had challenged him to a game months ago, building myself up as a Scrabble champ. We sat on the floor, sopping wet, each with our own bottle of wine, listening to Scott Walker swoon away. I started out doing quite well, but I deteriorated rather quickly in ratio with the amount of wine consumed, to the point where I couldnt concentrate on forming any words at all. And Rich pulled out some terrific words, like JOWLS on a double letter and triple word score, for more than 60 points. Who can compete with that? We played two games before I wholeheartedly acknowledged defeat (an afterthought really, considering I lost by more than 100 points). To his credit, Rich didnt gloat much. What a guy. Took a taxi back to the B+B. Slept in rather late. Somewhere along the way, America decided to declare war on Afghanistan. I read about it a little in the newspaper at breakfast, but decided not to dwell on it. How responsible of me. We had to switch to a smaller room, and Kenny spent at least 10 minutes raving to me about how fantastic the beds springs were, even going so far as to lift the mattress to show me. Oh dear. We headed into the city and met Rich briefly at Avalanche Records, before he had to go to school to do some work. We went to an internet café, then headed to the bus station to get a ticket to Leeds, stopping at a few shoe and clothing stores along the way. Then we headed out to the West End for a bite to eat. Sure, why not? We ended up at the Grosvenor Café, a required stop for any B&S pilgrim as it is where they met. Ooh. It was like an old-fashioned American diner. I had a fab sandwich, then we headed back into the city center. Gav called and invited us over to his for dinner, so we took a taxi there. I met his girlfriend Jo and her sister Lynn who were both super friendly and fab! They gave me huge hugs and kisses and made me feel totally welcome. I love them! Then I met YOKOJO as well, who was also nice and a fantastic doll maker. Amazing. Gav made some fabulous pasta and was super chatty. It was great! Then we piled into his car and headed out to a low-key bar, where we got a semi-private little room and talked about films. Calumn, Sweetie and Rich joined us. We eventually parted ways and there were huge hugs all around. Had to get up early to check out and catch a bus to Leeds. Actually made it in time for real breakfast for the first time and Ann was amazed and teased us about it. Got a taxi to the station and said our farewells. to be continued... ~dahling _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: my wandering days are over... part 1
by stacey dahling 24 Oct '01

24 Oct '01

Hey you lovelies! So I have returned to Greece after 21 days drifting across the UK, having innumerable pints with several of you lot. Its weird being back. I thought Id be really tired. But Im anxious. To do things, or for things to be done, to change. Ive changed, I think. And things are definitely different here. I feel like Ive been living in some alternate universe for the past three weeks. It seemed unreal. Yet natural. And for some reason I feel I must document it all for you. I dont know why. Well, some of it is entertaining I suppose. A glimpse into what some of these faceless names are really like, perhaps. Im afraid three weeks worth of my misadventures will take forever to recount. I considered simply posting a link to journal entries that I would put up on my personal web site, but quickly decided against that, since my family reads that and I cant possibly be honest with them nosing around. Not that I will be completely honest with you lot either, because you are now involved. I will post in parts, I think, beginning with a synopsis with LISTS, which everyone appreciates, I think, in todays low attention span world, and a link to PHOTOS hidden within to make you read at least halfway through. Evil, eh? Who I met (it reads like a mafia line-up, dont it?): * = photographic evidence Paul gingerfox Field * Nicholas passant Horne * Ken the juggler Chu Dafyd Strange * James * Elenita and her dancing roomie whose name I forget but boy could he move Will gneissy Salt * Jeremy breams Tweddle * Princess Honey Duchess Linda Sweetie * Richard Gillanders * Gavin king of partick Dunbar, Jo and Lynn Rachel sunnyset Ally the lad Cook * Carey * Calumn * Gordon rouss Joss Dudley Yokojo Sarahluv sleepy Kev Bishop * Madeline lolly McNeil * Stoo and his Sheffield possee: Kaytee, Mikey, Rhys and a boy named Nigel Lucy, Chris and Jim with purple trousers? My longtime pen pal and sometimes listee Ian Thompson Sightings: Harry London Martin My contributions: Two cartons of cigarettes Four bottles of Lesbian ouzo Several cheesy postcards Home fries Homemade pasta sauce Lots of toast and honey (and some lemon curd) A fantastic new caramelized banana sauce concoction I made up in London and of course my stellar company and amusing American accent (with a few choice ghetto saying thrown in for fun) Three weeks and several hundred dollars later I returned with: 14 new CDs 10 new tapes (including a QUALITY hip hop compilation from 10 years ago and a double cassette set of 1980s hits that features Bon Jovi alongside Aretha Franklin; not itemized to avoid wholesale ridicule) 14 new books (itemized list to follow) 1 pair new strappy brown GIRLIE shows with heels 1 bright red track sweatshirt/cardigan thingie and 1 pale yellow terry cloth v-neck collared shirt, both circa 1970 or thereabouts 1 jar of lemon curd 1 jack daniels whiskey glass 30 digital photos (censored collection available online at: www.geocities.com/dahling007/photos6.htm (takes forever to load) or at http://photos.yahoo.com/dahling 007, album sinister) 1 very sore throat and tons of new friends. Awwww Since I know there are many fine librarian and book buffs among you who are itching to know titles, here they are. (Also, if anyone else wants to start a book group, drop me a line. It might actually force me to read them all) Henry James: The Golden Bowl W. Somerset Maugham: Of Human Bondage Hunter S. Thompson: The Great Shark Hunter James Joyce: Ulysses Mona Simpson: A Regular Guy Gabriel Garcia Marquez: News of a Kidnapping Richard Brautigan: Sombero Fallout Hanif Kureishi: The Buddha of Suburbia Alex Garland: The Beach Garrison Keillor: Lake Wobegan Days Alisdair Gray: Lanark: A Life in Four Books Gunter Grass: The Tin Drum Dave Eggers: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Louise Erdich: The Beet Queen Also, Maddie, aware of the amount of heavy reading I now have before me, generously supplied me with a copy of Valley of the Dolls. And to make my load that much heavier, I stocked up on a bunch of lovely (HEAVY) art books. Piet Mondrian. Mmmm. Highlights: I tasted IrnBru, vodka and Red Bull, a fried Mars bar, Jaffa cakes, tons of chips and cheese, Burger King veggie burgers, weird candy (mint Aero bars = yum!) and lemon curd. I sampled a wide variety of local brews and um upped my tolerance at least three notches. I sat on the top of a double-decker bus, and rode is several funky old-fashioned black taxis. I got terribly lost with a large green backpack. I went to four gigs - saw Joan of Arse, The Dudley Corporation, the Lucksmiths, Airport Girl, Jonathan Richman and Trembling Blue Stars - and three indie nights, including a Gav DJ set, a Mikey DJ set and Track and Field (were any of you there last Friday?). I danced. I got silly drunk. I flew and kicked around a garden and collapsed in a park. I slept with another listee - but no shags, despite rumors to the contrary. I walked in the rain - a lot. I walked along the Thames, admired art, had a mini sinister picnic in a park and discovered conkers. I saw a high-rise with a special continuously moving circuit elevator. I watched a game of pool at 4 a.m. in the stuffy second-floor waiting room of a cab company. I stayed up till 3 a.m. baring my soul - several times. I took unexpected walks in the woods and traipsed happily through mud and fallen autumn leaves. I was attacked by a wooly cow. I challenged two people to Scrabble and lost terribly. I saw Ken do some amazing DDR moves. I was pummeled with pillows and lost a brutal tickle fight. Weird boys tried to pick me up. Others asked me directions. I got no snogs but lots of hugs and cuddles. For a more detailed account, continue to part two. Otherwise, delete the next two posts. ~dahling _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: band names? chocolate makes the world go round(er)
by idleberry 24 Oct '01

24 Oct '01

It dawned on me last night when I got home from work that I haven�t written an awful lot for you in recent months. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a package, with �Fragile �written all over it. Wondering what it could be, that might be sensitive to heat and dropping and things, I opened it with curiosity. The package was from Nik O, who had sent me more than enough troika chocolate bars to satisfy a girl for a year and CDs of belle and Sebastian. Sadly, I�m trying to cut down on chocolate and loose some of my podge that has accumulated around my middle ever since I moved home again and my mum started feeding me properly. The troika�s were all too much to resist. I�ll just have to give up savoury food instead. Thank you Nik O. Life in Berryland has been a mixture of late. I went to Norwich to visit some uni pals for my 23rd birthday, and realised I really do miss Norwich and the lazy life of a student (mine was lazy at least). I�ve been working for the past ooooh, four or five weeks for a financial company out in the Gyle at Edinburgh on all sorts of bits and pieces. It�s a temping job at the moment, until I decide what I want to do. I�ve been getting loads of packages recently with demos and stuff inside from bands wanting me to review them for my fanzine. Already into the third issue, and got some interviews with John Upchurch, The Clean, Aether Flux and Mark Jones from Jeepster Records. We�ve decided to make the cover a different colour for every issue. Its very simple. There�s no pictures on the front, or contents lists or anything. Just the name of the fanzine written across it diagonally. The first issue was yellow, the second was red, and I think the third is going to be green. I liked the red one best so far. I�ve been feeling fairly tired recently and stressed out a bit. Lots of reasons, and none of them due to the demon drink, Honest Mummy. I got a cool tremelo pedal for my guitar for my birthday. I�m still carrying on with it, and making up little tunes. Until I realised recently that Kings Of Convience already have them. And June of 44. Oh well. So much for being original. Boyfiend and I have been chatting late into the night about the idea of forming a band together. Sitting on the phone, we decided to think up names. He wanted Indian War Whip which is from some song by someone. But I keep forgetting it and calling it Wicked Indian Whatever instead. And if I can�t remember it, what chance has anyone else got? And if people ask if I was in a band, then how could I say �I am, but I can�t remember what we are called�??? So we went through song names. My favourite was Velouria by the Pixies. Then we went onto making up names using magnetic poetry. I�d wiggle my finger in the air and when boyfiend said �Stop�, I�d hit the board and see what word I picked. We had some amusing ones. �Death Man� �Repulsive Smell� �Puppy Juice� and �Pant Lust� which we thought we all highly amusing. But boyfiend got bored of that game long before I did and wouldn�t play anymore. Spoil sport. I've not had much access to my e mail recently, but all that changed last night. My dad gave me a �2000 laptop cos he bought a new one. Its only a year old, but very cool. I had been trying to save up for one, but hey, a freebie works for me. On the condition that I don't delete any of his files, I keep my files seperate from his, and if his new one breaks down, then he can use this one as a back up. Anyway, better get back to work. Ooh, lunch time! :) Love Idleberry xxxxxxxx ===== http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/corduroysmoke and the world did get covered in a thick haze of corduroy smoke. And it felt good. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals. http://personals.yahoo.com +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: "I am un chien andalusia..."
by aale002＠ec.auckland.ac.nz 24 Oct '01

24 Oct '01

Hey, all youse freaky peoples, Well, nothing much is happening here, so I thought I'd share the boringness of my life with everyone. I have another essay to write by Friday, on philosophical approaches to the laws of nature (ever tried to _define_ what a law of nature is? Sheesh.) Ernie Sanches said: "Andre, I enjoyed your New Zealand dream team list, but where is Martin Phillips? He would clearly be the goal scorer on my dream team, as Ive recently become obsessed with the Chills and believe that they are the best New Zealand band." Actually, I had him as captain of my first team, but then I realised that he's not much of a team player, and everyone else (particularly Andrew Brough and Shayne Carter) would probably end up killing him, or something. There's an old joke about how you could count the people in Dunedin who _haven't_ been in the Chills on one hand....:) I also wanted to include a lot of the other old soldiers, like David Kilgour and Andrew Fagan, but decided they might end up breaking a hip or becoming incontinent; which would not be a good thing, given that they're playing for the greater glory of New Zealand Aotearoa. Although they'd _still_ be better than the Kingz (don't worry if you didn't get that one-it's not half as funny as it should be....) Thanks to everyone that's responded to my first post, Johan and Madeline, and to all those that have welcomed me in #sinister. (Sorry I've been a little distracted and random there-well, I'm like that anyways, but-chatting at work isn't exactly encouraged, so I have to pretend to be doing real work every time someone walks into the room....:)) Johan, "susurrus" is the sound a gentle brook or a quiet crowd makes. :) I've loved that word since the first time I heard it...:) Have you ever thought, though, that if we have _enough_ in common, we might actually be the same person? (I've just been reading an artile on personal identity...grrrrr.) Well, it's official-I hate my flat. My two flatmates, are sooo different from me, it's not even slightly amusing (not even in a grim, gallows-humour kind of way.)I have three flatmates, supposedly, but flattie number three, Jess, while being a very good friend of mine (and the girlfriend of one of my best friends) is almost never at home, so she can't really make things better. Brett, who is an Australian and a chemical engineer, who voted for John Banks, and who is planning to head back to Oz to do an MBA, still can't contain a sneer every time we talk about what I study. He can't even begin to imagine why someone would want to study something as "useless" as philosophy, let alone want to make a career of it. But he likes the Corrs, so I feel like I have that over him. Jono, the other flattie, fits the computer nerd stereotype so precisely that he's beginning to scare me. He's even got the donkey bray laugh, the wierd obsession with Sarah Michelle Gellar and the diet of Kettle Chips, red liquorice and Coke (straight from a two-litre bottle! Lord help me...:)) I have nothing against nerds in general-crikey, I'm almost half one myself (he says, as he pushes aside his Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks....) but there's only so much lattitude I can allow. I simply _can't_ watch any TV when he's in the room, because I know the laugh will distract me from any enjoyment I might feel. What's worse is, he _claps_ when he laughs-it's obviously a habit, because he does it even when Brett and I are sleeping (or trying to). Grrrrr. It's not so bad that they're different from me. I could easily live with that. It's that they treat me as though I'm somehow less important than they are to everyday life in the flat. After Mia, the flattie that Jess replaced left, I became the only student there (Jono works[!] as an advertising manager for Time magazine, NZ [!]) and gradually, that's meant that I am to be viewed with a general suspicion. Not about anything specific, of course (because there's nothing that's been done) but...well, there's a _tension_ when I'm in a room with one or both of them, now; a silly, quiet tension that makes absolutely no sense. I feel like I've done something, and consequently end up feeling absurdly guilty. And my friends (including Jess's boyfriend, Ivan the Crazy Croat) don't come around anymore, because they get made to feel the same way- and heaven forbid if any of us have been out on the town.....<sigh> Well, only a little while longer, and I'll be through exams. Then I can move out and find a nice, comfy flat. Eck. I didn't intend this to be a moan-fest. It was the Pixies that made me do it, I swear! Or the Red Bull..... Oh, well, three weeks and I can start living again. Maybe I can finally ask Sexy Dark Eyed Pink Princess Girl out after that..... Right-o, that's me. Hope y'all are Good Little Vegetarian Ninja Foxes like I'm trying to be. Cunning Andre +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: CA: lif, or nia.
by Tim Banning 24 Oct '01

24 Oct '01

Hey. I've just gotten back from my trip today. I took the train agian. It seemed rather long. You see, I go from bus, to train, to bus again. The first bus is about 2 hours the train is about 6-7 hours and the second bus is another 2 hours. jesus. There was some prime human trash on the bus today. I think she just got out of prison and she was really loud and obviously did not care weather anyone heard what she was saying. The guy she was flirting with was just as gross, I think they attempted to "do it" in the bathroom but kept hitting the emergency button and they came out seperately and guy couldn't fix his zipper. I didn't listen to one single shred of music while traviling today. I didn't feel like it. I read a lot though. My head swims and thoughts come in and out like tap water when sitting alone on the train. I try to sleep but always get a crook in my neck so I don't sleep for very long. The funny thing about California is that most of it is farm land. If you ever go through the San Juaquin valley, it is nothing but farm land. Farms as far as your eye can see, you see nothing but farms. Cotton, rice, strawberries, wallnuts, almonds, oil, everything. Sometimes I look and it and see this little diserted towns and get depressed about it and then sometimes I think it's beautiful because what would we eat? what would we wear? It's always funny to ride the train and see the back roads and "behinds" of towns. There is always any number of teenagers downing as many beers as they can down at the tracks. You see junk yards, peoples back yards, cows having sex. God, I'm tired and still need to write a paper. viva la will's! Tim The William _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: b&s concert
by snoozer/ Maíra 24 Oct '01

24 Oct '01

Hello, all you sinisterians(!) out there. This is my first post, and hope it's not the last. I've just been let out of the nursery and now i've got voice. It's really something when you got a voice! ;.} Unfortunately, I couldn't read all of your posts since i joined the list; time's just a crap these days. I've read some, until the 15th, then I'm just keeping'em in a file. I don't like the idea of missing posts, altough you folks write soooo much... Anyway, i've read some really cool stuff, I'm glad I'm here on sinister world. Introducing myself: my name's Fabio, i'm brazilian, 22 year-old-thin-tall and young rock 'n roller. I live with my gilfriend Maíra, she also intends to write her crazy ideas to the list, and she writes much better than i do. You'll see. We really kicked asses last year, when we left our parents house to live together, without getting married, and without any financial support. just because we love each other. This may sound regular for other cultures/ countries, but that's not what brazilian youngsters are used to do. They'd rather live with their parents for very long time, not caring about getting a job or anything. Only after graduation. Why am I telling all this? Oh yeah, we could say we're different. We feel alone very often in this hot country. And to make it worse, we live in the smallest state in Brazil: it's called Sergipe. If you've got a world map somewhere, check it out: it's pretty small. The city, Aracaju, doesn't have ANYTHING that could be interesting to do. No cool places. No cultural aspects that could be worthwhile living here. Some good friends, tough. A rock 'n roll band (that's mine!), and this is it. But the actual reason for posting this is: Tomorrow is going to be the first days of the rest of our lives. We ARE going to a Belle & Sebastian concert. Not here, sure. São Paulo, here we go. Pretty far away, but we've got the plane tickets, and the most important thing: we've got the concert tickets!!!!!!!!!! We feel so happy about it that i had to write this to anyone in the world. If you're still here, thanks for reading. There's more to tell: it's a festival there, so I'll also have the pleasure to hear Grandaddy from the US, which really impressed me, and Sigur Rós, which I'm very curious about, and since we're big fans of Bjork, I don't think there will be a poblem in "getting" their sound. More! More! Today, B&S is playing in Rio, and there's a big tv network that does a very good job on broadcasting LIVE. Last year, i watched Sonic youth's concert on tv and everything was perfect, the sound, the cameras, and no commercials. And guess what? I'm going to record this concert today, before traveling tomorrow morning. If any of you B&S nerds are interested on getting this recording, I'd be very happy to send it. I'm going to work now! I believe I can write about the concert as soon as I get home on Monday. see you all, []'s Fabio Snoozer +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: New york city is heaven for rockers
by pharkle 24 Oct '01

24 Oct '01

Hey, sorry i am a long-time lurker and my first chime in is not B&S-related, but i figured some of you would have some interest in this. Our radio station is putting on a show for Boyracer, Huon, the Sisterhood of Convoluted Thinkers, and the Units on October 30th, 2001. This all takes place in friendly New York, NY, on the upper west side of manhattan at Barnard College/Columbia University. There will be beer, there will be costumes, there will be halloween in general. You get all this for a mere $7 ($5 if you're a student somewhere), and you get to support WBAR, a fucking cool, non-commercial, free-form, uncensored college radio station. What is not to like? more information is at www.wbar.org, and you can listen to the station from there too. cheers, -alex www.wbar.org +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: I want to be sinister...
by erin 24 Oct '01

24 Oct '01

...because saying "I'm sinister" is a really spif' thing to be able to say. This is my first post, so as such it'll be short and more of a little wave hello than anything worth reading. On a totally dischordant note, I'll always remember the Sinister ML as the place I first heard about Sept. 11. (I'd been watching the History channel in the morning - they didn't cut into programming at all - before checking my email, so I was quite confused by the Sinister mails regarding the incident) That's not a particularly auspicious start, but the intervening month and a half of lurking have been quite pleasant. I suppose that's it... Oh, and I live in Seattle now although I'm a Californian by trade. Sunny Days! Erin _____________________________________________________________ Are you lazy? Get your Free E-mail at http://www.Lazymail.com +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: WARNING: nerd alert. Indie superteam? Animate them with nitrate!
by jarkko frantila 23 Oct '01

23 Oct '01

Indie superteams? My team of cartoon characters will kick your ass! 3-4-3 is the formation. ________________________________________________________________________ GOALIE: Spider-man. Might have been Reed Richards (a.k.a Mr Fantastic out of Fantastic Four), but he's getting old. DEFENCE: -Nightcrawler from X-men. That abitility to teleport will come in handy, since the other defenders aren't too quick. -Thing out of Fantastic Four. A bit like Jaap Stam, ain't he? -Blob out of Freedom Force. No-one, and I mean no-one will run past him. MIDFIELD: -Conan The Barbarian. With that long hair of his he reminds me of Emmanuel Petit. -Donald Duck. With his temper he'd be the Roy Keane of our team. Red card mania! -Zapp Brannigan out of Futurama. Can make a move on the ladies, so I reckon he's good with the ball(s) too. -Spock (from the animated Star Trek- series). The brains of this team. Obviously. ATTACK: -Wonder Woman. Nice chest and great hair that will hopefully distract their goalie. -Colossus out of X-men. Big, tall fellow. Always good when there's a corner kick. -2D out of Gorillaz. I fucking hate Gorillaz, but since 2D = Damon Albarn, I quess he's good with the ball. Pippo Inzaghi of our team: Whenever someone touches Inzaghi, he falls down and complains about it to the referee. Damon can write an album about how he was mistreated inside the penaltybox (hello, Justine of Elastica!). And here's the team: http://www.activision.com/games/spiderman/ http://www.x-men.com/comics/bios/bio_nightcrawler.htm http://www.fantastic-four.nl/TheThingeng.html http://www.x-men.com/comics/bios/bio_blob.htm http://users.cnmnetwork.com/~hiestand/images/conan3.jpg http://www.bcdb.com/bcdb/detailed.cgi?film=8 http://www.futuramauk.co.uk/bios-zapp.htm http://izan.simplenet.com/illspock.htm http://wonderwoman.simplenet.com/ http://www.x-men.com/comics/bios/bio_colossus.htm http://www.multimania.com/gorillazim/pics/01/p01.JPG ______________________________________________________________________ -JF ps: J, she likes it when you stick your finger inside. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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