a.funnytimeofyear.com has been running for eight years now! It’s now time to change the format of the site to display my images better. Therefore the site has moved to funnytimeofyear.com (no ‘a’), with a new streamlined design. This site will of course still be here and the archives will be available. Click to visit the new site!

Please update your bookmarks!
You can add the new RSS feed here: http://funnytimeofyear.com/feed/

And as a little side note, thanks to everyone for their support and e-mails over the years. Don’t be shy with the new site! Your comments are always welcome.

It’s been quite interesting to see how much bigger Pixel is getting. When I look at photos of her now compared to the day we got her, she’s really filled out. She’s turned into such a cuddly little thing and as I type this she’s asleep wedged between myself and the back of the office chair. Every morning she likes to put her face right next to mine and slap me on the nose until I get up. I’m sure this will become incredibly annoying at some point, but right now (and I hope for a very long time), she makes very happy. So here’s a kitty update with lots of new photos. As you can see, she’s a very lazy kitty (when she’s not attacking shoes, toilet rolls, bouncy balls and falling down toilets.)

Interesting documentary, found on Coilhouse.

VICE Magazine’s short, riveting documentary on Japan’s Aokigahara forest (also known as The Sea of Trees), perhaps the country’s most popular location for those wishing to end their own lives (and reported to be the second most popular location in the world behind the Golden Gate Bridge. The forest’s popularity is often cited as being due to Seichō Matsumoto’s 1960 novel Kuroi Jukai, which features two lovers committing suicide there, but the forest has a history of being associated with suicide and death in general before its publication. In the 19th century families would practice ubasute (literally “abandoning an old woman”) a tradition in which an elderly or infirm family member was brought to a place and left to die, exposed to the elements. In recent years, the rate of suicides has been on the rise.

I don’t know how more people haven’t got mental health problems
Thinking is one of those stressful things I’ve ever come across
And not being able to articulate what I want to say drives me crazy
I think I should try and read more books
And learn some new words
My sister used to read the dictionary
I’m going to start with that
I’d like to travel
I want to see India and the pyramids
A whale and that race with all the bicycles in France
I’m not sure about rivers, they scare me
But I love swimming, I’m good at it
And when I swim I think about numbers
And count the laps
When I was younger I saw a house burnt down
And I walked past it everyday for the next six years
Derelict, black, chalky and dangerous
I wondered if squatters lived there
I’m still not sure but I know there were never any parties cuz it was shit
After a while the council got round to tidying out the town
Making it less offensive here and there
They said it was an eyesore so they tore it down
Behind the house was a wall with a few bits of crappy graffiti
And the word ‘Cunt’ written on it in giant letters
And now I walk past that

I like sitting in the park
And I like walking through it
I like taking my dogs there
And friends, and I like being alone
I like flowers and simplicity
I like compassion and thoughtful gifts
I like being able to shout
But I wish I could be quiet
When I’m quiet people think I’m sad
And usually I am

Sometimes when I’m at a busy train station
Somewhere big with the noisy trains like King´s Cross
I feel like putting down my bags and shouting things out because
I’ve got something to say
Don’t you want to share the guilt?
Don’t think, just try and sleep.

(Boring post about my cat, I know, what have I become?)

We took Pixel to see Magda, her sister, the other day. We thought it’d be a pleasant kitty play date, however, that wasn’t quite how it turned out. After a few hours of wanting to kill each other, the cats settled on play fighting for the entire evening. Here’s a video montage. Pixel is the one doing most of the killing!

“Compartmentalisation began as an architectural theory. Divide buildings into sections which can be closed off to prevent a fire from spreading. Life can also be divided into closed off sections. Makes everything much more simpler.” (Dexter, Season 5 Episode 6)

One of my favourite quotes from Gia:

Life and death, energy and peace. If I stop today it was still worth it. Even the terrible mistakes that I made and would have unmade if I could. The pains that have burned me and scarred my soul, it was worth it, for having been allowed to walk where I’ve walked, which was to hell on earth, heaven on earth, back again, into, under, far in between, through it, in it, and above.

I need to buy a reasonably cheap but decent point-and-shoot camera. I’m mostly interested in Canon models (I’ve always been a Canon buddy), but I’m totally lost. I haven’t owned a point-and-shoot since 2003 and I’m more inclined to trust someone’s own judgement rather than a review. It’s mostly just for when I am out and about and don’t want to carry around my huge backpack at clubs/events/shows/friends & family dos. At the moment I’m totally obsessed with this Canon Digital IXUS 100 (bit old but would do the job?), but mostly because it’s entirely red and I am of course obsessed with the colour red. I’m pretty ridiculous. As soon as I see anything that’s red I instantly think, oh that’s nice, without even considering what it does..

So.. Any ideas/recommendations? Help!