590: Two Pictures

A mouse autopsy, yesterday.

This picture of an eukaryotic cell is a mouse. It isn't a mouse, but it looks just like one pinned to the autopsy bench with its viscera splayed open for all to see. Eukaryotes are multi-celled life forms including plants, fungi and animals, and some single celled things from other lesser known kingdoms. Fascinating, no doubt, but beyond my current ken, and momentarily I'm more interested in this particular one looking like a mouse. Ooh, isn't it cute, yes it is.

This picture of a guinea pig is someone's dinner. It isn't a pet; it is an animal domesticated and farmed to feed hungry humans, especially those living in or visiting Peru. Sipping hot cocaine tea and tucking into a crispy roast rodent before tottering off to Machu Picchu to admire the stonework. Looks delicious. I'm off to bed to dream of eating furry little squeakers.  Ooh, isn't it cute, yes it is.

A guinea pig delicacy, yesterday.

459: a bit of writing and some pictures of people

There was a problem saying the word 'cauliflower'. It kept coming out as 'California': Caulifornia, Califlornia, California cheese. It was a stuttering-stammering loop of messy California cheese. Still, it tasted lovely. The problem word was mine, but the cauliflorniower cheese was a joint effort. It accompanied toad in the hole (vaguely following this recipe, but using self-raising flour instead of plain, vegetable oil instead of groundnut, and rosemary along with the salt and pepper; didn't bother with the onion gravy this time); forget California (I'm sorry I mentioned the godforsaken place now), this was good proper English food. Or British; or European; or Homo sapiens.

Last night, after that fantastic feed, I slept like I haven't slept in years. Asleep fast by half-past nine and waking up slowly and ill-feelingly at 6am. Aches, concrete-sinus, headache, and a proclivity to moan and complain, greeted me this morning. I wanted more than anything to stay in bed and melt into sheets in a sleepy shuffling shed of slop and sleep. Never happened; soon I was back on the bus, spreading my germs to the very people I got them from in the first place. One annoying-phone-music-person was listening to some terrifically annoying weird sort-of fast electronic salsa with a highly repetitive hyper-horn line and some tippy-tappy drums. Every time a new identical-to-the-previous song started there were many groans and heads held in hands spreading around the bus. This is the second time in the last few weeks I, and my fellow commuters, have had the hideous misfortune to be on the bus with this horrible idiot with an mp3 phone. Blah.

I have the feeling it is winter now. I wore a scarf this morning. Then I wrote this boring blog post. Then I went to bed; or will do soon. Anyway: snore. Here are some pictures of humans:

421: I Like Looking at Pictures

Fun with Google Images – I was searching for an old-fashioned illustration of a spine before and ended up just getting lost amongst all kinds of fantastic images. As an adult it seems to be a little bit embarrassing to admit I like looking at pictures. I'm not particularly talking about art, although I do enjoy art galleries and books; it could equally be kids books, postcards, drawings, sketch books, maps, tickets, playing cards, prints, stamps, paper money. I like looking at pictures.

A dream of mine would be to be curator at a museum of paper ephemera; a vast unending collection of long forgotten images, texts, textures and patterns just waiting to be discovered, arranged, dated, catalogued, displayed and preserved. That would be utter bliss. Perhaps the British Museum has a paper ephemera department and they have a job going.

Here we go, this is what I'm talking about: The British Museum Department of Prints and Drawings. "It is one of the top three collections of its kind in the world," according to the website. "There are approximately 50,000 drawings and over two million prints dating from the beginning of the fifteenth century up to the present day." That really does sound like heaven to me.

As well as having drawings and prints by such important artists as Michelangelo and Goya there is an "important collections of printed ephemera, such as trade and visiting cards, fans and playing cards". Please can I have a job, please. And in my lunch breaks I can just pop over to the Department of Asia to rifle delicately through the collection of Oriental prints and drawings.

Truly if that was my life I would never have to work another day; each day at the office would be a waking fantasy of study, research and appreciation. And with all those drawings by famous artists I could have the world's most expensive paper aeroplane fight in history... ever. That's my CV and cover letter sorted, now all that remains is the interview. A mere formality.

It's things like The British Museum that make London sound like not such a bad place after all. If ever I have a decent amount of money under my (missus') belt, I may consider thinking about possibly considering suggesting that maybe we think about possibly going to London to think about the prospects and possibilities of us one day moving tentatively to London. So I can be curator at the Department of Prints and Drawings.

Newsflash: I have no internet!

That's it basically.  My internet at home has been disconnected.  It'll be back on Friday when my bills are settled.  In the meantime, I'm sort of half writing each days blog in Word, and using the opportunity to use the internet at BLANKSPACE to compile all those precious, lovely links and images.  Today is 300, but I'll have to post it tomorrow or at the weekend.  In the meantime, here are some pictures to distract us all.

P.S.  Now is actually Saturday, day of the catchup.  For anyone keeping score I should be on blog 302 today, so time to knuckle down.

Slideshow of oldish drawings.