Reasons why this isn't really working as a beauty blog so far

1) I can't be bothered to take product photos
2) I feel too embarrassed, old and hideous to post pictures of my face
3) I can't be arsed to remove facial hair and I'm not prepared to take photos of myself with it
4) I haven't got any spare money for buying makeup at the moment
5) I am however still buying it as a somewhat counterproductive stress reduction mechanism which embarrasses me
6) My RSI is hurting too much to make blogging a pleasure at the moment
7) I can't be bothered to upload any of the photos I have taken.

More on independence

The Tories appear to be getting very worried about this, well ahead of October 2014 or whenever it is the referendum will be held. What they don't seem to realise is that every time they open their mouths and start yipping about how dangerous and wrong it is, Salmond gets a couple of hundred more votes. The best thing they could do is just shut up. And apart from anything else, what they are saying is just plain ridiculous. Independence will put Scotland at risk of terrorism and we'll need armed borders. And we'll be overrun by immigrants. We're already a terrorist target and arguably we're going to be at less risk if we exit the UK. We already have borders - trying getting through the airport queues on international flights without showing your passport to the UK Border Authority. And with fewer than 6 million inhabitants (approximately 10% of the UK population) in roughly 30% of the UK's land mass, we've probably got room for a few more under the covers.

If you'd asked me before May 2010, I'd have been vehemently against independence (it's hard not to take it personally), and I'm still not sure the economics stack up, but frankly the more I look at Alex Salmond's policies compared to David Cameron's, the more attractive the idea of waving farewell forever to the pudding faced old Etonian twerp and his twisted idea of compassionate Conservatism seems.

Breaking news - thought provoked

Just back from a fascinating debate at the National Library of Scotland about independence where a point was raised that had never occurred to me.

Where will Scottish independence leave the more or less uniformly rabidly Unionist Ulster Scots?

Update: See.

Dissertation survey

Please could I ask you all to help me by completing a survey to provide data for my dissertation? It can be found at:
http://www.smart-survey.co.uk/v.asp?i=49296baifl

Thank you!

There is no such thing as a pleasant shop bought salad dressing

Discuss*.

*It is no coincidence that this was posted straight after (a ruined) lunch.

Finally

A mere 7 months after I tried to change gas and electricity suppliers from Scottish Power to EDF, the transfer has now gone through. It's difficult to figure out exactly whose fault this is - Scottish Power resolutely kept refusing to allow the transfer but that might have had something to do with EDF attempting (successfully at one point and at my expense) to transfer over the account of my upstairs neighbour instead. But that probably has quite a bit to do with Scottish Power flatly refusing to agree that my address is what I (and the payments cards address verification system) say it is, rather than what they say it is.

Still, it's done and I've been refunded for the two months worth of gas I paid for for my neighbour. The problem is that the cheap fixed price deal I tried to transfer to is long gone and I am now paying more than I was paying Scottish Power. And now that EDF have me as a customer, they are being considerably less emollient than they were during the transfer.

I suppose I'll need to transfer again. Not back to Scottish Power who after all fitted this flat with a dual rate meter although there is no storage heating, meaning that I've been paying about 60% more for my electricity than I need to. Nor to N-Power who I understand to be evil incarnate. Does anyone have a utilities provider they like and can recommend?

It appears I was wrong

It isn't a postpositivist mixed methods grounded theory interview.

It's an anti-foundationalist, critical realist, mixed methods, grounded theory interview.

I apparently had my 'ologies in a twist. This is prone to happen when you are chasing your own tail.

Beauty products I don't understand

The ones that make you look like you've had a full night's sleep when you haven't. The classic is Guerlain Midnight Rescue (which as far as I can tell works by irritating the skin a tiny amount but not too much so you look a bit pink rather than pale green) but also shadows which give the effect of 'a wideawake eye'.

If I haven't had a full night's sleep, the last thing I want is someone thinking I'm bright and perky and expecting a corresponding degree of bright perkiness from me. If I'm feeling like death, I'd rather look like death and then maybe someone will cut me a bit of slack. In fact slightly worse than death would be good because I like managing people's expectations and we can all be pleasantly surprised if I avoid dribbling while I talk.

Why don't you love me, cake?

As I said, a couple of posts ago, about the only pleasure I have time for at present is cake. I love cake. However I am unable to love cake in a reasonable and moderate fashion and as a result, cake doesn't love me back. Cake may even hate me (and by cake I also mean biscuits (cookies) and chocolate). I'm back to getting insomnia issues and I feel really unwell most of the time and I suspect this is diet related. So the obvious thing would be to eat a healthy diet of lean protein and vegetables and a lot less cake. The trouble is that I hate lean protein, although not quite as much as I hate vegetables. I really only love cake. OK, I love toast too but toast has started to give me severe stomach pains (although not quite as bad as the stomach pains pasta gives me but I don't love pasta) so I'm sticking to cake. But for how much longer?

Life is very unfair.