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@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@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 +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+