….had my eyes thoroughly checked today at the opticians. The bad news is that this dry eye condition isn’t going away, so I’ll be putting in eyedrops three times a day for the rest of my life; the good news is that there is no damage to my cornea,and no sign of glaucoma or cataracts.
The good/bad news is that I need a stronger lens for my left eye; and because my lenses are non-standard, my glasses have to be sent away elsewhere for fitting. I don’t have a spare pair of glasses and can’t do without them, so I’ll have to pay for a new pair.
Damm. My plans for buying a new hard drive for this PC are receding by the week. Every time I think I’m going to get enough cash together, something comes along to swallow it up.

And now that I’ve stopped doing the Elfin Diary, money will now be even harder to find. Oh well, I least the stress has lifted. I hated dumping it all on Sara this weekend, when she was visiting and just wanted some peace (and was dealing with migraines), but the years of stress and frustration I’d been getting from that job finally came to a head. I’m sure that the appearance of my dry eye condition, which made it impossible to use my computer for any length of time last week, was not unrelated to my desperate desire to find a way out of it.

But I’m now feeling more relaxed than I’ve felt in ages (even though I ate and drank very unwisely at the weekend, and woke up this morning rather the worse for it). The depression that kept threatening to paralyse me thoughout the early months of this years has gone.
And, somehow, I’m feeling hopeful for the future. Something good will come along, I feel. There’s a light at the end of the tunnelaaaAAARRRGGHHHHH…….

….scam, scam, scam, scam….
(sung to the tune of the Spam Song)
This dropped into my inbox today:

Subject: Donation assistant vacancy in the USA
This message is of most importance to all North American and European Union residents
This is a job-offer for North American and EU residents only.

Requirements and benefits:
Monthly gross salary: 1500-3000 EUR per month (1800-3600 USD)
Age limit: 18-80
Possible career growth and promotion opportunity
Internet access, mobile or home phone number
Part-time (1-3hr per day) and full-time employment (8hr per day)

Leap forwarding International Donation Association is looking for new friends and collaborators in North America and Europe.

Become a part of our donating system that includes international donations to HIV positives, war refugees from Middle West and starving children from poorest European countries.
Our program does not charge or ask You to invest anything. We do not try to take Your money. Our regional sponsors and investors from different European Union and USA regions have already accepted our offer and are now the investing affiliates in our multi-national donating program.

Collaborate with our investors during the donation process and earn from 1500 EUR (1800 USD) up to 3000 EUR (3600 USD) gross salary per month. Together we can make this program work with maximum efficiency and thus have an opportunity to ease the sufferings and minimize the needs of thousands of people.

The vacancy You can apply for is the “Donating assistant” (future promotion to “donating manager” is possible after 3 months of successful cooperation).

Please confirm if You are interested in becoming a part of our program and EMAIL US. We will then send You more details concerning the vacancy of a “donating assistant”.

Thank You very much for You time and for Your desire to help the ones who really need our help and joint support.

War in the Middle West eh? Well, there’s war everywhere else nowadays…..

When I googled for more info on this (it’s almost certainly a money-laundering operation, which is illegal, easily detected and will put you in jail), I came across an even better scam email:

Subject: THE UNITED KINGDOM
THE UNITED KINGDOM.IS ABOUT TO SEND YOUR MONEY TO YOU THROUGH WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER,SO CONTACT MR JERRY WHITE WITH THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION.YOUR NAME IN FULL,CELL PHONE NUMBER. FOR DATAILS.
CONTACT HIM OR CALL HIM THROUGH.
EMAIL:jerrywhite006@yahoo.co.in

Got to see a doctor yesterday. Not Doc G, whom I get along with very well, but his partner, Lady Doc. Whom I do not get along with very well.
Lady Doc’s undoubtedly highly professional, but somehow, we just do not gel. Somehow, she makes me feel like a whinging hypochondriac as soon as I step into her room; I get the overwhelming feeling that she does not believe me when I tell her about any symptoms. Certainly, consultations with her are of the “I’m a very busy person, here’s a prescription” variety.
But she confirmed it was probably Dry Eye and gave me some eyedrops. These seem to be working quite well, although I’m still having blurred vision this morning. However, I’m going to make an urgent appointment at the opticians, to check that there’s nothing else there.

GOT to see a doc tomorrow. For the last 5 or 6 weeks, I’ve been getting very gritty, dry, sore eyes; worryingly, I’m also getting periods of blurred vision.
So my already poor eyesight is further reduced. Today I can’t read a book or newspaper without a magnifier and can’t make out much of the what’s happening on the TV screen (or anywhere I look). I’m thanking the Whatever for the technology that enables me to increase the font size of text on my computer. At the moment, I’ve got the screen font size up to something like 18pt – it’s just readable.
But at least I’m able to read something here; not being able to read properly is driving me spare.
Googling has told me that my problem is almost certainly Dry Eye Syndrome (which is common in postmenopausal women – sigh).
So, it’s off to the surgery tomorrow for a proper diagnosis and hopefully, something that will reduce the soreness and blurring.

That ridiculous Panorama program on the “dangers” of wi-fi has had a very thorough spanking this week in the blogosphere.
The best is probably Ben Goldacre with his Bad Science blog and column (which has links to other debunkings) and his Bad Science forum. Even the Beeb’s own News24 gave the producer a hard grilling.
But I fear that very little of that will percolate through to the Daly Wail-reading masses who lapped this up. After all, this nice-looking scientist chappie on the show said that wi-fi is radiation. And radiation is terribly terribly dangerous! And they had this woman on who could feel the wi-fi waves zapping her brain and she could could tell if a phone mast was radiating at her six times out of ten!
oh noes!1!!!! hide from the wi-fi monster!11!!!!

<+AdamR> bahahahahahah just got a reply from zen about that gateway being named “gay-dsl1”
<Er00`> Oh?
<Pru> WEEEEEEEEEEEE
<+AdamR> Hi Adam, All of our DSL gateways are named after renowned philosophers, in this case Gay is named for John Gay, see the below website for more information: http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/g.htm
<TheDon> rofl
<+AdamR> notice how there isnt a picture of him on that site
<Er00`> Hehe
<+AdamR> thats the best fucking techincal support response i’ve ever had

<c> I’m just not that creative at naming. I name my computers after dead guys who argued a lot.
<DrAppleseed> Is your next one going to be named Falwell?
<c> Somehow, I don’t think it would get along with Turing.

<patchinko> jerry falwell’s dead
<darsu> a-who?
<lynkali> 😮
<lynkali> really?
<patchinko> he died like >3 hours ago
<Cthulhu> umm, you misread that part jon
<Cthulhu> “School official said Falwell was fine at breakfast”
<Prakk> they ate his corpse?

<Will T. Rex> So, at the pub last saturday
<Will T. Rex> Really bogan pub, with pool and AC/DC on the TV jukebox, at 3am in the morning… my nerdy friend says very loudly “NEED MOAR BEER!”
<Will T. Rex> with emphasis on the ‘moaaar’, because we are nerds
<Will T. Rex> … and out of nowhere, some random dude screams “WE ARE ANNONYMOUS, WE ARE LEGION”
<Will T. Rex> Fucking terrifying

<ganked> Did the doctor give you your test results?
<ct> Yeah. Looks like all those years of phone sex caught up with me.
<ct> I have hearing AIDS.

If you like that, you’ll find lots more at Bash.org

(Thanks to The Stupidity Tracker)

Not been feeling very settled these last couple of weeks. Bob & Sue are moving out, which means adjusting to new neighbours.
All of us are now searching for people to rent the house. We’d like to have people who are pagan, or at least pagan-friendly; we’d prefer to have people that we already know. We don’t want to take our chances with whoever the letting agency sends along. Four or five people, sent by the agent, have so far viewed the house; we’ve not been unfriendly exactly – just not terribly welcoming.
So we’ve been blitzing various pagan e-lists looking for suitable people – no luck so far.
But we still hope…..

So it dawned bight and warm – the perfect day for strolling down to the village Town Hall (no, that isn’t a mistake – our village really does have a Town Hall) and making my mark(s).
Before I went, it was necessary to read through all the election leaflets; having decided I wasn’t going to vote for any Labour candidates, I needed to find some candidates I could vote for.
The Greens, as usual, had the least eye-catching leaflet; a single green, non-glossy A5 sheet, with equally understated election promises – reducing pollution, tackling climate change, strengthening communities, that sort of thing. All very necessary, all very worthy, but not at all exciting. Where were the unachievable promises, the overblown rhetoric, the shots of glamorous, grinning wannabes cuddling kiddies and grannies? Come on Greens – at least look like a real political party!
The SNP leaflet was printed in a really quite unpleasant combination of puce and bright yellow (with a posed glamour-shot of of Alex Salmond trying to look like A Statesman); to be passed over quickly before digestive upset set in.The Scottish Liberal Democrats‘ effort was a much more pleasing grey/tan colourscheme; however, they made the severe mistake of putting a large up-close head-shot of their candidate on the front. Surely they could have asked the lad’s mother to find a better photo? The SLD Regional election leaflet prominently featured an endorsement for the candidate from Charles Kennedy. Um.
The Scottish Conservatives‘ Regional election leaflet had nothing to say except to beg me to “stop Labour” – which I intend to do by not voting Labour. The leaflet for their local, sitting, MSP was a much better and more focussed affair, actually listing his achievements for his constituents while saying very little about national Conservative Party policies. He’s my local MSP, so I know how hard this man works for the region; if he was standing as an Independent, he might have got my vote.
The leaflet for the local Scottish Labour candidate made the same mistake as the SLD one (there are some people that the camera just does not love); the Regional leaflet was all about stopping the beastly SNP. (“Vote for us because the other lot are pants”. Bad tactics, lads)
UKIP promised to “Sack the MSPs!”. And abolish inheritance tax, bring back student grants and get Scotland out of the EU.
The Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party caught the eye with a cheerful amateurish logo; their leaflet cut to the chase with a “short and sweet!” 5-point manifesto that promised a better life for all Scottish pensioners. Shacked up with a pensioner and not far off pension age myself, I found their ideas quite sensible and straightforward. And, with the average age of Scottish residents now in the mid-50s and rising, they’re going to get increasing support. Nevertheless, they aren’t likely to get any MSPs this time around so my vote will, somewhat regretfully, have to go elsewhere.
The Scottish Socialist Party manifesto was even more tempting: free public transport for all, abolish Council Tax, free school meals for all children, an £8 ph minimum wage, scrapping Scotland’s share of the UK defence budget by five-sixth, renationalizing the railways. All this and a picture of the Tardis too! I found myself swaying… until I remembered Tommy Sheridan. That bought me back to my senses.

So, after a quick re-read of the voting guide, to refresh my memory on what mark to put on which ballot paper, I set off to do my bit…..