absence makes the heart grow fonder (is this true??)

hello. yes, I know, I know, its been a while. quite a while. a bit too long, perhaps. internet me went a bit shrivelled and wilted like a plant that I've been tasked to care for (I am very good at killing plants. every so often I decide that I'll buy living herbs and always have lovely fresh herbs for when I cook. I think I managed to keep some coriander alive for a week, once)

anyway, I have been watered (with tea) and now I am back. hooray! the reasons for my lengthy hiatus are...

• laziness (always a big reason)
• Las Vegas (where highlights included, but were not limited to, some small scale gambling wins, lunch in the revolving restaurant on top of the Stratosphere, watching Peepshow starring Holly Madison of Girls of the Playboy Mansion fame, a DJ set by Mix Master Mike where there was hardly anyone there and we threw some awesome shapes and it was a bit like a private disco, and then I harassed him loads at the end getting lots of things signed for almost everyone we know, getting an industrial ear piercing and buying a designer dress)
• a sunny weekend in Newcastle (where we've been to Tynemouth and eaten cider lollies and been to town and I found everything I was looking for and the boyf took me to the Vietnamese restaurant for my lunch, oh, and I've pitched my very pink tent in the back garden in the hope that it will rain soon so it will "weather" before I go to Glasto)
• applying for - and getting - a secondment. eeek! for the first time in a very long time I will be doing a job that doesn't involve benefits. scary, but exciting

anyway, they're really just excuses, but I have been very busy having fun and sadly, when I do this, the first thing to slip is my writing. I did write a little bit in Vegas, I started an awesome story for the next Mslexia submission on "Departures", I just hope I can pull it off (and get it in in time!!) I also worked on a story for a really good competition, and the idea was good but the story was terrible. no, thats not quite true, not terrible, just not finished. nowhere near. but because it was free I sent it off anyway. it made me feel horrible. I was embarrassed that someone will read it (probably not too many people as I imagine it will be binned almost immediately). anyway, I've learnt a valuable lesson there. although its important to set deadlines and stick to them, its also mortifying to send off work that I don't want to be associated with. I won't be doing that again.

speaking of competitions though, I've found a lovely little competition by Waterstones called Perfectly Formed

http://www.wbqonline.com/feature.do?featureid=505

very free, very good prizes, so really I think it would be rude not to enter it. and since my stories seem to always be on the short side, its the perfect competition for me!

next weekend the boyf has promised me a trip to Barter Books in Alnwick, so I've been sorting through my study quite ruthlessly - it is easier to get rid of books when I know I can exchange them for a credit note to buy more books. yaay!

anyway, must go. typing to do.

bye! xx

ps if anyone wants to see the very beautiful, very expensive, very designer dress that I bought, you can check it out here...

http://www.betseyjohnson.com/store/productdetails2.aspx?productid=8387&np=1101

its a bit longer on me (kind of top of my calves, the model must be a giant) but isn't it lovely? I have a wedding to wear it to, and then I will wear it to every occasion ever, until I get too fat to wear it, or it falls apart, whichever comes first. sigh. it is the most expensive thing in my wardrobe. its probably more expensive than the wardrobe itself. oh, how I love it so...